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,
Mariah
Studio 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

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

Despite the direct-impact of the recent policy updates from several, major payment processors, Midnight Den Studios will continue to stand with our colleagues who have found their creative niche in the adult entertainment industry. We believe that the recent, strong-arm tactics by lobbyist groups to end our rights to consume content that has been deemed permissible by the United States Supreme Court (see Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973)) are both a gross overreach of what their authority should be, and a slap-in-the-face to established legal precedent. We will not stand idly by while these decisions continue to impact the lives of so many, as well as the few who work right here at Midnight Den.

With the recent policy shifts, we have lost the primary hosting site for our second title, Strawberry Punch! Since we now cannot trust any site to stand up for us and support our continued ability to do business, we will be moving all hosting for Strawberry Punch! to Patreon (hopefully this holds out) and, eventually, right here to our website. This shift will take time, but we will be working hard to get more content to you, our fans and supporters, as quickly as possible.

Midnight Den Studios is a team of eight, passionate people who love what we make and love seeing exactly how our content excites you. So far our flagship title, Midnight Release, has not been affected by the payment processor policy shifts and our listing on Steam is still active. We genuinely hope that we will be allowed to continue making this incredible game and that we will one day be able to share it with all of you. If you would like to take action against these new policies, please visit the following pages and add your name to each petition:

Mastercard: Sex Work is Work. End Your Unjust Policy.

Tell MasterCard, Visa & Activist Groups: Stop Controlling What We Can Watch, Read, or Play

Thank you for your endless support and excitement for the content we create.