Just a few days ago, Warner Bros.announcedthat free-to-play brawlerMultiVersusis shutting down with the game’s fifth season as its swansong.
While most players will just move on (as the player count undeniably proves they already have), some can’t let go of it that easily.
Some MultiVersus Players Feel Scammed After Buying $100 Founder’s Pack
With MultiVersus shutting down, those who invested in the $100 Founder’s Pack don’t feel like they got their money’s worth.
MultiVersus Players Threaten Devs Over Game’s Closure
Over on Twitter/X, Player First Games boss Tony Huynh made long statement apologizing to the players, thanking the dev team and the community, and also addressed concerns regarding people sending threats to them too.
Huynh writes, “Hey all, I wanted to say a few words as I reflect on the recently announced news about MultiVersus. While I’m sad about the outcome, I will forever be grateful for the opportunity given to us by Warner Bros. Games and to each and every developer on the Player First Games and WB Games teams. Also to every IP holder thank you for entrusting us with your babies, we hope we made the characters true to themselves and felt authentic to your fans. I couldn’t be prouder of the work the PFG team did. Their endless creativity and passion never ceased to inspire and amaze me. And of course I wanted to thank every player who has ever played or supported MultiVersus. Delighting and serving players is Player First Games objective.”
The studio chief also thanked those who sent fan art and character ideas. “Thank you for sending us all the great fan art, character ideas, and personal stories. They were the highlight of every day and always excited the team,” Huynh notes.
Going into the characters they released, Huynh states, “I’m sorry if we couldn’t get to your favorite character. I do think Aquaman and Lola are really cool and I hope you all check them out. Character selection comes down to bunch of things including development time, listening to what the community wants, working with IP holders and approvals, if there is a cross-marketing opportunity available to support, and of course if the team is inspired to make the character. So a lot goes into to it. For instance BananaGuard came about because the team was enthusiastic about making it and on their own produced it over the weekend as a fun, quick-to-make character. When inspiration and enthusiasm spark we want to reward that and we got BananaGuard because of that. It wasn’t at the expense of another character. It was because the team was excited about making the character.”
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Only the best is good enough.
Unfortunately, Huynh’s farewell statement to players also included a sour note. The studio chief needed to mention that players are entitled to what they want to say, but when threats are involved, it’s crossing a line (which it is, very).
Huynh points out, “I know that this is painful for everyone, and I know every member of PFG feels it too, but I have to call this out, you’re entitled to what you say and think, but when there are threats to harm it’s crossing the line. I hope that you may take a step back and realize that this is an extremely sad time for the team. I am in deep mourning for the game. Nobody wanted this outcome and it wasn’t from lack of caring or effort.”
It’s never easy to let go of a game you spent countless hours, sweat, and money on, but threats and whatnot should never be part of the conversation. It’s not like the developers wanted to shut down the game. It’s a simple case of insufficient players and revenue to justify the server costs, development overhead, and whatnot.
It’s never easy to release a free-to-play game and strike gold in video games. Like for this one, MultiVersus launched into beta in 2022 with a bang, only for the player base to dwindle over time. Player First then pulled the game, made some changes, and launched it again in May 2024. Unfortunately, the same thing happened: it initially grabbed many players' attention, dissipating until the player base was gone.
What will happen to Player First once the game goes offline? Will they move to other projects or will we once again see mass layoffs? For the sake of the families involved, let’s hope they have different work waiting for them.
Season 5, the last season of MultiVersus, launches tomorrow, February 4.
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“Welcome to the future of gaming”
