Controversial streamer banned from Call of Duty

Dr Disrespect says he’s been banned from Call of Duty Warzone 2.0, a move which he says shows Activision is “out of touch”

Ever one for controversy, YouTube streamer Guy Beahm, better known as Dr Disrespect, has apparently been suspended from Call of Duty Warzone 2.0 over his use of proximity chat.

Proximity chat is a feature in many games, Warzone 2.0 included, that allows players to hear the microphone activity of other players that are close by. Typically, the closer a player is to another, the higher the volume their mic activity will be. This allows players to gain an edge by listening for conversation, but the advantage goes both ways.

Beahm, however, seems to have been banned for his behaviour on the feature which, given the streamer’s history of controversy and foul language towards other players, is not particularly surprising. The streamer says he was “probably” banned for spamming voice chat.

“This is not even my account,” he said during a recent stream, “They banned my other one for seven days for proximity chat use. Believe it or not champs. So we’re playing on an alternate … Spam? Yeah, it was probably for spam. But was it really?”

Proximity chat is a new feature to the Call of Duty series, and has been very well-received by fans. Picture: Activision Blizzard

Beahm called the decision “insane”, saying that he’s heard way worse in proximity chat and that in the incident that led to his ban, both he and the other people in the game were trash talking. That said, as pointed out by TheGamer, it’s unlikely that Beahm knows whether or not other players were banned, so it’s entirely possible he’s not the only one hit with a suspension. Still, he believes it shows that Call of Duty publisher Activision is “out of touch”.

Beahm has a long history of controversy, having been permanently banned from Twitch for unknown reasons, leading to his current streams taking place on YouTube. His Twitch channel had been temporarily suspended previously for livestreaming from a bathroom at an event in LA, which he was also banned from.

Midnight Society, Dr Disrespect’s game development studio, is working on a free-to-play shooter with NFTs. Picture: Midnight Society

Despite Beahm’s continued streaming of Call of Duty, he seemingly has endless complaints about the series, and has even gone so far as to establish a games studio to create a shooter to compete with it. The studio, called Midnight Society, is charging players $50 USD for an NFT that lets them test the game, which is just a little bit backwards from how things usually go, with studios paying testers for their work.

Of course, it’s unlikely any game from the streamer will take many players away from Call of Duty, which has been seeing wild success lately. Call of Duty Warzone 2.0 recently hit 25 million players in its first five days, a pace that should see it easily surpass its predecessor, if it hasn’t already.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.