Xbox executives depart while Compulsion Games shuts down

**TL;DR:** Xbox executives depart while Compulsion Games shuts down

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Corporate leadership changes rarely come without internal shakeups, reorganizations, and layoffs, and Xbox appears to be going through that right now. Just a few months after longtime Xbox head Phil Spencer left the company and former AI executive Asha Sharma was put in charge, the gaming world received a duet of news stories from Xbox that paint a bleak picture of the internal state of Microsoft's gaming division.

To start, news came on Monday morning that Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan and chief of staff Louise O'Connor had departed the company, per The Game Business . Then, a few hours later, Kotaku reported that Compulsion Games, developer of 2025 critical darling South of Midnight , was going through the process of being shut down. SEE ALSO: The biggest announcements from the June 2026 Nintendo Direct It should be noted that this is very much a developing situation.

Xbox has not officially confirmed the shutdown of Compulsion, and Kotaku reporter Rebekah Valentine noted on social media that studio leadership is in some sort of "negotations" with Microsoft over the fate of the development team. However, at least one Compulsion employee posted on social media today that the

Source: Mashable

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Last updated: June 16, 2026.

Additional context: early-cycle stories often look bigger in headlines than in day-to-day impact. The useful move is to identify the smallest set of facts that would change your decision, then wait for those facts to land.

Additional context: early-cycle stories often look bigger in headlines than in day-to-day impact. The useful move is to identify the smallest set of facts that would change your decision, then wait for those facts to land.