We’ve learned DrDisrespect is selling NFT beta access to his unannounced game, which will be developed by his recently formed studio Midnight Society.
DrDisrespect, aka Guy Beahm, is a popular livestreamer that formerly worked at Sledgehammer Games, and helped work on the multiplayer maps in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. His Midnight Society studio was formed in December 2021 with former Call of Duty creative strategist Robert Bowling and Halo 5 multiplayer designer Quinn Delhoyo. While details are scant on their first game, they tout it as “the most community-focused, online PVP multiplayer experience the world has ever seen.”
News that DrDisrespect is selling NFT beta access to the game come via a new blog post that details the community-focus of the game, which for some reason includes the sale of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.
“As we focus on building the best new PVP multiplayer first-person shooter, we’re looking to leverage the collective strength of our Day Zero community to go hands-on during crucial early development milestones of the project,” Midnight Society studio head Robert Bowling said. “This means building an infrastructure that allows the active participants of our community to experience environments, weapons, movement, and other core tenets of the gameplay at a stage where their feedback, input, and guidance can be incorporated.”
While most big game studios rely on internal testing for quality assurance and bugfixing, Midnight Society is using their own form of early access via a Founders Access Pass, which will get you access to early game builds, their exclusive Discord channels, and even vote on “key design decisions.”
Owners of the Founders Access Pass will also be able to create unique and tradable visor designs that are procedurally generated with various levels of rarity. It’s unclear if these designs will actually be included in the game, though, as they say the design(s) act “as your identity within the Midnight Society and can be used as your verified avatar in and outside the community.”
Founders Access Pass will be limited to a “select group” of 10,000 community members, each of which can be purchased with $50 to get access to all of the above. Anyone that owns an Access Pass will be known as a “Variant.” Furthermore, Midnight Society confirmed there will be other series of passes in the future, but they note they will be made “using environment-friendly NFT technology, and each with a unique theme.”
Here’s the kicker: not everyone that is willing to buy these passes will be able to, as you must apply for the privilege of being able to purchase an early access pass. Midnight Society will judge applicants based on the following criteria (but not limited to, of course):
- When you joined the Midnight Society community
- How active you’ve been in the community
- How active of a gamer or creator or developer you are in general
- Your vision for what makes a good PVP shooter
If you are lucky enough to get approved and buy a pass, you’ll also be able to resell your pass through open cryptocurrency marketplaces like Opensea, following the 30-day lockdown period. It’s worth noting Opensea was recently the victim of a widespread spam and phishing scam, resulting in the loss of $1.7 million worth of NFTs.
Even though the initial sales haven’t begun, the Founders Pass applications are being accepted until March 23, after which approvals will be sent out a few weeks after applications are received.
It’s worth noting Midnight Society is naturally working on the next phases of passes, as confirmed by the current passes’ FAQ page.
“We are in the process of designing a meta economy layer for Midnight Society that will form the core of Industry Pass Holders,” the FAQ says. “Founders will have a say in how it evolves. Industry Pass holders, also known as The Eyes, will form guilds that run all the in-universe manufacturing of weapons, mercenaries, and cosmetics used by Claws in the Midnight Society.”
This is Niche Gamer Tech. In this column, we regularly cover tech and things related to the tech industry. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s tech or a story you want us to cover!
