What was hinted at in the past is now a certainty: Dr Disrespect is developing his own shooter that aims to compete with the biggest names. His new AAA development studio is called Midnight Society and was founded with industry veterans. They have co-developed titles including Call of Duty and Halo.
Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm is one of the most popular streamers in the shooter genre. Not only his talent with the mouse has contributed to this success: The extravagant character of “Doc,” played by Guy Beahm in his streams, is an absolute magnet for viewers with high entertainment value.
Moreover, Dr Disrespect has expertise not only as a shooter player. Before skyrocketing as a Twitch streamer, he was a community manager and map designer for Call of Duty. He wants to return to those roots in game development now.
On December 14, 2021, the Doc announced on Twitter: He now has his own development studio. It is named Midnight Society.
Dr Disrespect hints at a “vertical” Battle Royale
What kind of game is the streamer developing? Currently, it is unclear what kind of game Dr Disrespect wants to develop with Midnight Society. The only official statement at this time is that they are developing a “PvP multiplayer game from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5” (via Twitter).
However, “Doc” has already hinted at a direction in which the game could go in his past streams.
In one of his YouTube streams from August 9, 2021, he showed his viewers two concept drawings:
- One had the inscription “Vertical BR” – the BR probably stands for Battle Royale.
- The other drawing shows a tall building with the text “Wingsuit Platform Extraction” (via YouTube, timestamp around 44:20).
These concepts seem to build on an idea that Dr Disrespect already explained to his viewers in 2018.
What kind of game has the streamer hinted at? In the battle royale of his dreams, players would spawn on different floors of tall skyscrapers that are slowly burning down. This would force them to fight each other for the rescue zone on the roof (via Dexerto). The gameplay foundation of this idea is the weapons and gadgets from Rainbow Six: Siege.
However, whether this dream game will be realized with his new studio Midnight Society is currently unclear.
Recently, Dr Disrespect announced that he wants to compete with a game of his own against CoD Warzone and Apex Legends (via Dexerto). Recently, he has also loudly criticized CoD Warzone and its players.
Co-founder is a well-known developer of the “CoD Modern Warfare” trilogy
Who else is part of the studio? In addition to Dr Disrespect, other veterans of shooter development are also on board. The better-known of the two co-founders is Robert Bowling, known to CoD fans under his internet pseudonym “fourzerotwo”.
Bowling was the community manager at Infinity Ward and contributed to the development of the original “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” trilogy. Since then, he has also been involved in a role at EA in the development of Apex Legends, Anthem, FIFA, and Star Wars games.
Another co-founder of Midnight Society is Quinn DelHoyo. He was a developer at 343 Interactive and worked on the multiplayer of the latest Halo games. In Halo Infinite, he was the lead sandbox designer.
Dr Disrespect has recently drawn more attention due to his public dispute with Twitch: In the summer of 2020, “The Doc” suddenly just disappeared from Twitch. His fans are still speculating about why he is no longer allowed to stream on the big platform, as there has never been clarification.
Since August 2021, Dr Disrespect has been planning legal action against Twitch
