Midnight Society, the studio co-founded by streamer who admitted to messaging a minor, has shut down

Midnight Society, the studio co-founded by Call of Duty veteran Robert Bowling and disgraced streamer Dr Disrespect, is shutting down.

The company broke the news on X and indicated its 55-person development team will be disbanded.

“Today we are announcing Midnight Society will be closing its doors after three incredible years, with an amazing team of over 55 developers contributing to our new IP Deadrop,” said the company.

“We are actively seeking other game studios that would be interested in offering employment opportunities to our talented team members.”

Deadrop was pitched as a free-to-play extraction shooter with support for NFTs. The studio pledged to develop the title in tandem with its community by releasing “snapshot” builds every three months for players to appraise.

“The closest anyone has come to a Snapshot before was beta or early access. In truth, Snapshots are different,” wrote the studio, elaborating on that process.

“We bring in our community at Day Zero of the game making process, at the earliest stage of development so we can make a game that is ultimately the best it can be for our community.”

Deadrop had been slated to launch in 2025.

Dr Disrespect controversy came to define Midnight Society

Although it was working on a new shooter under the stewardship of former Infinity Ward creative lead Robert Bowling, who helped create acclaimed titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Midnight Society largely made headlines because of its affiliation with controversial streamer Guy Beahm, better known as Dr Disrespect.

Last year, Beahm admitted he was banned from Twitch in 2020 for messaging a minor–although he repeatedly edited and eventually deleted that confession (screenshots of which can still be found online) before claiming it was simply bait designed to lure in journalists.

If you’re thinking that sounds like a colossal stretch–you might not be alone.

In his original statement, Beahm denied doing anything “illegal” but stated he sent “messages to an individual minor back in 2017” via a now defunct Twitch messaging platform.

“Were there Twitch whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? The answer is yes. Were there real intentions behind these messages, the answer is absolutely not. These were casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more,” he stated in the now-deleted post.

“Nothing illegal happened, no pictures were shared, no crimes were committed, I never even met the individual. I went through a lengthy arbitration regarding a civil dispute with Twitch and that case was resolved by a settlement. Let me be clear, it was not a criminal case against me and no criminal charges have ever been brought against me.”

Just hours before his admission, Beahm was ousted from Midnight Society with the studio explaining it needed to maintain its “principles and standards.”

In the wake of that controversy, Game Developer senior editor Bryant Francis described the situation as a “wake up call for developers” willing to throw their lot in with internet personalities who so often court outrage.

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