Development Paused - Not Cancelled

I’d like to start this press release with an apology:

To all of our fans, supporters, family, and friends: I’m sorry. When we set out to create Midnight Release, back in June of 2024, the economic and political climate were incredibly different. I knew a risky election was coming up at the end of the year but I never, in my darkest dreams, could have predicted what has transpired since. As a result, in order to try and keep everyone here at Midnight Den employed as long as I can, I have made the decision to put Midnight Release on hold. Several factors have played into this decision and it’s not one that I made lightly. The harsh reality is that, in order for me to justify paying our staff, we must pivot to making a sfw furry game that can actually be brought to market. With this being said, however, Midnight Release is not being cancelled. We are moving ahead with developing the universe and lore behind the game, and will continue to release new content on our Patreon. This pause will give us time to not only get our cast onto vr social platforms, so everyone can enjoy our amazing character models, but to also allow us to make a ton of animations and art that peek into the personal lives of our characters. Midnight Den Studios isn’t going anywhere and I fully plan on returning to developing Midnight Release once it’s financially feasible. I’m sorry that this is how things have to be right now, but we are going to keep fighting when and where we can to restore our freedom of expression and right to create, and consume, the content we choose.Sincerely, MariahStudio Director, Midnight Den Studios

TL;DR:

A timeline of unfortunate events that lead to the Midnight Release development pause:

July 2025: Payment processors cave to conservative groups calling for censorship of NSFW content

Steam and Itch.io de-list hundreds of NSFW titles without warning

Multiple platforms update their policies to restrict NSFW content

August 2025: Steam revokes the Early Access revenue path for NSFW games

September 2025: Steam revokes “post-launch” content for NSFW games

October 2025: Multiple developers report Steam preventing them from withdrawing revenue due to banking restrictions

What we are going to do about it:

Pivot to creating a sfw game that plays by these new rules so we can keep the lights on

Use our Patreon to release both sfw/nsfw animations of the Midnight Release cast

Get all of our character models ported to vr social platforms so everyone can enjoy them

Not quit until we have no other options for making furry games