Midnight Society, the studio co-founded by YouTube streamer Dr Disrespect, announced that it made the difficult decision to shut down. The developer was working on a first-person extraction shooter called Deadrop, which faced backlash for its use of NFTs. Although it also dealt with controversies involving Dr. Disrespect, Midnight Society had previously reassured fans that it was moving on without the YouTube streamer.

Last year, a former Twitch staff member claimed that Dr Disrespect was banned because he was caught “sexting a minor” using the platform’s Whisper function. The streamer didn’t outright deny the accusation and did admit to sending inappropriate jokes to a minor on Twitch Whisper. This controversy led to Dr Disrespect losing several brand partnerships, getting demonetized on YouTube, and being removed from Midnight Society’s board.

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Despite Dr Disrespect’s removal, Midnight Society promised that it was still working on Deadrop, and many fans expected the full version to come out sometime this year. Dr Disrespect previously claimed that Deadrop might launch in 2024, but it never came out. Unfortunately, Midnight Society announced on social media that it’s shutting its doors and canceling Deadrop after three years. In a statement, it expressed its gratitude to the developers who worked on Deadrop and the community that supported the effort. It is also actively seeking other game studios that would offer employment opportunities to its 55 developers.

Midnight Society’s Closure Has an Interesting Coincidence

In the replies, many gamers hoped that Midnight Society would issue a refund to the people who paid to support Deadrop. A good number also asked the developer to release the dev build and let the community finish the game instead. Meanwhile, some people pointed out that Midnight Society’s closure happened on the same day Dr Disrespect reportedly got remonetized on YouTube. Dr Disrespect had been working on reversing his YouTube demonetization and was refused a number of times, but he seems to have finally succeeded this time.

There’s no proof that Midnight Society closed down because of Dr Disrespect’s remonetization, but people couldn’t help but notice that the studio’s announcement came less than an hour after Jake Lucky’s report on Twitter. Dr Disrespect also confirmed his remonetization in a tweet shortly after. Nonetheless, it’s still unfortunate that some developers lost their jobs following Midnight Society’s closure, and many people are hoping that they will continue pursuing game development in different companies.

Meanwhile, Dr Disrespect has been streaming regularly on YouTube again to thousands of viewers, and even ranked as one of the top YouTube streamers last October. He has yet to comment on Midnight Society’s closure and Deadrop‘s cancelation, but some people online are expecting that he might not say anything good.