David Sears, director of South of Midnight, says Microsoft’s approach to funding a wide range of games was ultimately unsustainable. Speaking in a new interview with MinnMax, he described the company’s support for smaller, higher-risk projects as admirable, but said the flow of funding could not last forever.
Sears said he was uncomfortable with the prospect of being responsible for a large budget or a huge team, and wanted to make a game that would not put Microsoft’s games division at risk. He also questioned whether a strategy built around games with either major commercial appeal or unusually strong value at a modest cost could reliably succeed.
He said he was always concerned that South of Midnight could suddenly lose its funding. If he had been in charge of Xbox, Sears said, he probably would have cut funding for the game before it was made, despite wanting to make it himself. In hindsight, he described the overall approach as unsustainable and its eventual consequences as likely to be shocking.
Compulsion Games, the studio behind South of Midnight, was previously part of Microsoft before regaining its independence earlier this year. The game later arrived on other platforms, including PS5, but the article says it appears to have underperformed. There are no official sales figures; an Alinea estimate cited in the article put PS5 sales at about 16,000 in April 2026. Steam player counts were also described as unpromising.
Sources: Push Square.