South of Midnight FLOPS Upon Launch

South of Midnight Is DOA — And Game Pass Might Be Next

"Early access" — a phrase that - at one point in time - meant something special. Now? It’s just a euphemism for "Pay $10 more to beta test our broken game before everyone else." And South of Midnight, Microsoft’s latest so-called gem, is the perfect example of how far this practice, and the industry as a whole, has fallen… and it’s a further fall than I could have ever imagined…

First off - Despite being "released" in early access, the game’s already flopped harder than anyone expected — and that’s saying something. Let’s get the numbers out of the way first: less than 500 concurrent players on Steam. Yeah… That’s not a typo. That’s a death sentence.

For a first-party game from Microsoft, that’s completely embarrassing. It's not just a stumble — it’s a full-on faceplant in the mud, especially for a game that was supposed to showcase narrative ambition, unique aesthetics, and... whatever else they thought would distract us from the lack of actual compelling gameplay.

It was Heavily influenced by Sweet Baby Inc., the diversity-first consulting group that’s made quite a name for themselves these days (and …not in a good way), South of Midnight is yet another entry in the growing list of titles prioritizing an ideology over entertainment.

And sure enough, the red flags were all there from the start — including when one of the game’s community managers, who has made outright racist statements, pikachulita - was caught in various odd tweets on X and interviews, is still as far as I can tell, actively employed by Compulsion Games.

Not only that, Compulsion Games, the studio behind South of Midnight, deciding to block me on X.

All for simply stating the obvious: the game didn’t look that interesting when the gameplay was first revealed. Weird. Almost like they’re afraid of being exposed for who they really are…

Turns out, I wasn’t alone. Now that the game is finally in players’ hands — at least the small handful who paid extra to get in early — we’re able to see that the lukewarm reactions are actually generous. Friend of the channel Hypnotic gave the game a spin, and let’s just say his reaction was... not glowing. Not in the least bit. In fact, saying “not impressed” might be the nicest way to summarize it.

But here’s where things get more insidious: South of Midnight is a Game Pass title. And that’s advertised to be a good thing …right? After all, it’ll be "free" (read: subsidized by your subscription fee) for everyone when it launches wide on April 8th. But let’s be real — this isn’t a reason to get Game Pass. It’s another reason not to.

Microsoft wants us to believe Game Pass is somehow the ‘future’, the Netflix of gaming. But in reality, when you look at the actual output — it’s clear Game Pass is becoming a game dumping ground. The subscription model doesn’t incentivize greatness. It incentivizes volume over value, and consumers are at this point, finally catching on. If Microsoft can't even get people to try their games for free, what does that say about the health of the platform — or the industry?

The sad part in all this? South of Midnight looked like it had some potential. A Southern Gothic setting, mythological roots, and a chance to do something new. But that potential was smothered under the weight of agenda-driven writing, weak gameplay loops, and marketing that pandered rather than persuaded. The gameplay looks bland and generic, the stop motion action is a massive turn off for many. Funny enough, it turns out after all is said and done, the game has about 6 hours of run time for total gameplay and it’s getting destroyed by even some major review outlets like Eurogamer. You know it's a bad thing when even the 'pro-journo' access media press are hating on your Sweet Baby Inc.-infused DEI game. A rare sight indeed these days…

In the end, South of Midnight isn’t just a failure of a game — it’s the perfect case study in how Game Pass, Sweet Baby Inc., and identity-driven game development are together, choking the life out of modern gaming. One woke slopfest mess at a time. Unless something changes soon, this won’t be the last game to go down this path…

~Smash