The community around DEADROP, Midnight Society’s early access shooter, is in uproar after the studio removed its co-founder Dr Disrespect amid accusations that surfaced on social media surrounding his 2020 Twitch ban.
Four years after Dr Disrespect, real name Guy Beahm, was mysteriously banned on Twitch, accusations began to bubble up. Ex-Twitch employee Cody Conners insinuated the mega-popular streamer was caught “s***ing a minor” through the platform’s whispers feature. Conners also alleged he planned to “meet up with” said minor at TwitchCon that year.
Dr Disrespect responded to the allegations hours later, claiming the situation was “probed and settled,” he was cleared of any “wrongdoing”, and that Twitch paid out his full contract at the time. With no further accusations or evidence publicized since the initial Conners tweet, Doc went live on YouTube on June 24 with an Elden Ring stream.
During this broadcast, the content creator looked off-screen and became visibly dejected by something he read. Shortly after, he announced an indefinite break from the public spotlight, claiming he was burnt out. It was then revealed on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), that he had been cast out of the gaming studio he co-founded, Midnight Society.
“We assumed his innocence and began speaking with parties involved,” the company’s X account shared. “In order to maintain our principles and standards, we had to act. For this reason, we are terminating our relationship immediately.”
An integral component of the indie studio’s first release, DEADROP, Dr Disrespect largely served as the public face of the development team. Promoting the early access shooter at every turn, Doc was the first to tease his studio’s ‘vertical extraction shooter,’ attended a number of in-person events, and frequently pushed the game’s latest updates through his channels.
A former game dev in his own right – having worked on Activision’s Call of Duty series before his rise to fame – Dr Disrespect was one of four co-founders. Midnight Society’s website still lists Beahm as the first name under its personnel page at the time of writing.
Dr Disrespect was one of four co-founders who helped Midnight Society get off the ground.
As a result of his integral ties to the studio and its first title in active development, fans are voicing their displeasure with Doc’s removal from the team.
For some, their bitterness comes due to a lack of publicized evidence. Although Midnight Society claims to have spoken directly with the parties involved and subsequently acted on what they heard, the fact these findings haven’t been shared is driving much of the community away.
“Without a shred of evidence presented to the public, this is a WILD move,” one former fan said. “What happened to ‘innocent before proven guilty?’” another questioned.
With many having also committed financially to the project already, as part of its early access window, some players have even begun threatening to sell off their founder’s passes. “No interest in this studio anymore,” one former fan said.
“Your game is now dead in the water,” another chimed in. “There is no midnight society without Doc.”
At the time of writing, 53 DEADROP founders passes are listed for sale on the OpenSea cryptocurrency platform. Prices range from as much as 999 Ethereum (roughly $3,350 USD) to 0.025 Ethereum (roughly $84 USD).
OpenSeaOver 50 players are selling off their early access admission, though not all are guaranteed to be in light of Doc’s removal.
Some of the more passionate fans over on Doc’s own subreddit echoed the sentiment, arguing DEADROP is “dead on arrival” without their favorite personality leading the charge.
However, not everyone agrees with this stance, as some opted to look at the bigger picture and support the dozens of remaining devs still attached to the project.
“It may be harsh times but this was never about one person or one of us,” one avid fan said on X. “No matter what happens, it’s OUR game and world.”
For now, no Midnight Society co-founders or developers have issued any further comments on the removal of Dr Disrespect. The content creator ended his June 24 livestream shortly after most assume he heard the news, and there’s no telling when he might be back in front of the camera, if at all.