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Compulsion Games

Games & Interactive
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Founded
2009
Employees
51-200
Offices
1

About Compulsion Games

Compulsion Games is an independent Canadian video game developer founded in Montreal in 2009 by Guillaume Provost. The studio creates narrative-driven action-adventure and puzzle-platformer games distinguished by evocative world-building, theatrical art direction, and inventive gameplay systems.

Its original-IP debut, Contrast, introduced a film-noir world built around moving between 3D environments and 2D shadows. Compulsion later released We Happy Few, a retrofuturistic survival adventure set in an alternative 1960s England, followed by three narrative expansions: They Came From Below, Lightbearer, and We All Fall Down.

Development approach

The studio provides full-cycle game development, spanning gameplay and engine programming, narrative design, concept art and animation, level design, lighting, sound design, and quality assurance. Its experience also includes co-development and external production support, reflecting its early work with external publishers before it began focusing on original properties.

Compulsion’s more recent game, South of Midnight, is a Southern Gothic third-person action-adventure centered on Hazel, a weaver facing supernatural creatures drawn from Deep South folklore. The project uses a stop-motion-inspired animation aesthetic alongside culturally rooted storytelling and music. It launched for PC and Xbox Series X/S in 2025, with a PlayStation 5 release following in 2026.

Company history

Compulsion operated as an independent studio from its founding until Microsoft acquired it in 2018, making it part of Xbox Game Studios. In August 2026, founder Guillaume Provost led an independent management buyout that returned control of the company and its game intellectual property to studio leadership. The studio now operates independently and is pursuing co-development partnerships, collaborations, and future original releases.

Its portfolio combines original releases with earlier production contributions to projects including Darksiders, Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale, and Arthur Christmas: Elf Run.

More about Compulsion Games

Recognition

  • Contrast won Most Innovative Game of the Year at the Canadian Game Awards.

Early development history

Before focusing on original properties, Compulsion Games supported external publishers through work-for-hire and co-development work. The studio began as a small home-office team and later operated from a converted former gramophone factory in Montreal’s Saint-Henri district.

Notable credits

9 credits
  • South of Midnight
  • We Happy Few
  • We Happy Few: They Came From Below
  • We Happy Few: Lightbearer
  • We Happy Few: We All Fall Down
  • Contrast
  • Darksiders
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale
  • Arthur Christmas: Elf Run

Offices

Where Compulsion Games is based

1 location

  • Headquarters & Production Studio

    Headquarters
    1100 Atwater Avenue, Suite 6000, Westmount, Quebec H3Z 2Y4, CanadaWestmount, Québec, Canada

    Physical corporate headquarters and primary development floor in the Montreal metropolitan area.

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