Compulsion Games’ creative director David Sears says he was “always worried” about Xbox’s development funding approach for South of Midnight, describing it as “unsustainable” in hindsight. He says he expected that Xbox would eventually change course, framing it as a “night when Rome burns,” and suggests he likely would not have continued the project under Xbox executives’ decision-making.
After Xbox parted ways with Compulsion Games and helped transition the studio back to independence, multiple outlets report Sears’ comments on the funding “money tap.” IGN and other independent-leaning outlets emphasize his remarks about turning off that funding earlier, while others highlight his claim that the overall model could not be sustained. The coverage broadly links the game’s funding experience with wider Xbox studio changes and cutbacks.
Across the reports, the core message is that Sears views Xbox’s funding strategy as ultimately unworkable and personally anticipated it would end. Outlets differ mainly in how they foreground his “wouldn’t have funded it” framing versus the specific language about the funding mechanism.
