Ex-Midnight Society Head Reveals New Studio, And It Won’t Touch Live Service

Robert Bowling, formerly of Infinity Ward, Electronic Arts, and (more notoriously) Midnight Society, has revealed his new game studio on social media, named //18.bravo. That’s not a typo; it’s actually called that. In a lengthy post, Bowling explained that the studio won’t support live service, will give back to employees, and promises to keep games playable even if the studio closes down.

He claimed that the company’s bylaws will allow for all assets, code, and ‘everything required to extend the game’ to become open source by default if the studio goes awry. Bowling didn’t explain what the studio will be focused on, and given his stock in the industry, it’s tough to predict what their first game will be.

From DEADROP to //18.bravo

Robert Bowling’s last role as the head of a studio ran from 2021 to 2025 at Midnight Society, the company creating a ‘vertical’ extraction shooter called DEADROP. This studio infamously used Dr Disrespect as the face of the company, but parted ways with the streamer after (now quashed) unsavoury allegations surfaced online.

Months later, Midnight Society closed down, leaving Bowling to focus on the establishment of Weatherfoot Games.

After all the drama, Dr Disrespect directly addressed Bowling’s leadership capabilities in a social media rant.

Now, per a new post, Bowling is ‘back in California’ and has unveiled //18.bravo, an all-new studio with a rather bold premise. It seems like Bowling’s chief goal is to combat every ounce of negativity in the wider gaming market right now, including:

• High executive salaries
• Poor employee compensation
• Games going offline
• Expensive operating models

He wrote:

We’re building a studio that ties leadership compensation to employee success, that has a employee royalty plan, and that shares profits with external talents (voice actors, mocap actors, and contractors).

We are not supporting live service.

While we will support dedicated servers during our peak / launch periods, the foundation of the game is focused around supporting “forever play” which means optimized P2P architecture that allows the community to play together even if the company moves on.

He then promised that his team would release legal paperwork to allow others to mimic that business model.

Bowling’s career has taken him from Infinity Ward and the Call of Duty franchise to Electronic Arts and the Battlefield series. He has worked with indie studios, AAA games, and everything in between in both leadership and advisor roles. This latest effort to stand up something new is admirable, but time will tell what //18.bravo can produce.

What do you want to see from Robert Bowling’s new studio? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.

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