Method, World of Warcraft's top competitive raiding guild, to collapse amid multiple allegations of sexual abuse and sexual assault against longtime member MethodJosh, and sexual harassment and misconduct by co-CEO Sascha Steffens The company was As of this writing, dozens of members (many of them paid subscribers), including General Manager Shanna 'Darrie' Roberts and prominent streamers Zizaran and djarii, along with other associated Twitch streamers and sponsors such as MSI have severed their ties with Method.

The allegations came to light last week as hundreds shared stories of sexual harassment and abuse by members of the gaming industry; Method's own story dates back several years, and the organization was accused of rape and sexual abuse of underage girls by one of its core raid group members defended MethodJosh (also known as JoshPriest).

MethodJosh has been embroiled in controversy for years; the streamer, reportedly in his mid-20s, had 174,000 followers on Twitch when he was mysteriously banned permanently on June 29, 2019. Twitch never explained why the ban but it was widely rumored to be the result of a Kotaku investigative report detailing MethodJosh's disturbing interactions with female fans on the Discord server. Of these incidents, three sources told Kotaku that MethodJosh frequently described girls between the ages of 15 and 16 as "the perfect age."

As detailed in a statement released by Method CEO Scott McMillan on Twitter, Method's management was informed in January 2019 that MethodJosh had been accused of requesting sexual photos from minors and sending photos of himself . McMillan wrote, "Such a serious allegation would have to be investigated by the police, and we did not believe we had the capacity to deal with such an allegation. We should have simultaneously conducted a more thorough independent investigation."

Above: many streamers in the WoW community have attempted to sever ties with Method in the wake of the allegations against him.

Method has also been a major source of concern for the community, both after MethodJosh was banned from Twitch and when clips and screenshots of MethodJosh making misogynistic, racist, and other (typically against women) worrisome comments began circulating in the community, as well as in 2019. When MethodJosh admitted to Method's upper management that he was the subject of a police investigation in the latter half of the year, no serious action was taken against MethodJosh.

"With each allegation, including the investigation, we believed Josh when he said categorically that all the allegations were false and that the truth would come out," McMillan wrote.

That police investigation was eventually dropped, but the incident that led to it came to light last week when Twitch streamer 'poopernoodle' shared her account of being raped by MethodJosh on June 16, 2019 In her statement, poopernoodle explains how she befriended MethodJosh and was sexually and emotionally abused by him on multiple occasions over several months. poopernoodle visited MethodJosh's home and streamed with him, when he raped her He said.

Poopernoodle, a college student at the time, is one of eight people who have come forward so far. Each has detailed receiving sexually suggestive photos and inappropriate messages from MethodJosh, and one said he encouraged her to participate in threesomes with him when she was 15. The other said she was 14 when he began sending her messages. Each said she had revealed her age to MethodJosh. Only after these testimonies became public early last week did Method finally take action and terminate its contract with MethodJosh.

Around the same time, former Method member and streamer AnnieFuschia released her own testimony that she had been subjected to offensive and inappropriate behavior from Method's co-CEO, Sascha Steffens.

Shortly before AnnieFuschia left the team in 2017, she told McMillan what had happened between herself and Steffens and was confronted by Steffens, who threatened legal action shortly thereafter. A day later, a second Twitch streamer named Sliss came forward and shared an exchange between herself and Steffens that included multiple accounts of inappropriate sexual behavior.

In response to these allegations, Method's official response was to place Steffens on "unpaid administrative leave pending the results of an independent investigation." In two statements made on Twitter, Stephens admits that he was wrong to send the flirtatious messages, but denies the other allegations in the testimonies of Anievskia and Sweblis.

For many of Method's team members, staff, and affiliated streamers, the apology came too late; Method's entire European World of Warcraft PvP team resigned, as did the entire Path of Exile team and Blizzard's official WoW esports Mythic Dungeon Invitational team in North America, which participates in tournaments, also resigned. In addition, at least 29 streamers have publicly terminated their relationship with Method, including streamers who were under contract to Method or who worked closely with Method.

In a statement provided to PC Gamer, a Blizzard representative said, "We have no formal business relationship with Method and will not be working with them in the future."

At this point, it is difficult to see how Method can continue, given the seriousness of the accusations and the number of people who have left the organization. The organization, started in 2005 by Macmillan, spent most of its existence focusing on competitive World of Warcraft raids, competing with other guilds to be the first to beat a new raid on the hardest difficulty level.

In 2018, Method significantly increased its influence in the World of Warcraft and esports community by partnering with brands such as Red Bull to begin streaming races to beat World of Warcraft raids. Around the same time, the organization experimented with competing in other games such as Fortnite, Path of Exile, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. As of today, a significant number of members have resigned, leaving senior management like McMillan, who said in a statement that he is "leaving for a while"