MultiVersus is a free-to-play platformer fighting game developed by Player First Games and published by Warner Bros. Games. The developers held a closed alpha test between February 25 and March 8, 2022, before the game was launched into Early Access on July 19, 2022. After going offline on June 25, 2023, the game is set to return on May 28, 2024.
MultiVersus game director and co-founder of Player First Games Tony Hyunh
During the MultiVersus open Beta announcement, Player First Games said “MultiVersus hit Open Beta on July 26th and then we’re here to stay”. Perhaps, this was one of the reasons why many gamers doubted its return when it went offline.
In a new video posted today, March 11, 2024, MultiVersus game director and co-founder of Player First Games Tony Hyunh provided updates to the game as well as revealed the new release date. In the roughly 3-minute video, Hyunh said the studio has taken note of the feedback from the open beta “and learned a lot”.
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“I am excited to share that our free-to-play platform fighter, MultiVersus, is launching on May 28,” Hyunh said. “The team has heard your feedback, we’ve learned a lot from our open beta. We’ve been hard at work, and we’d like to give you a sneak peek of what we’ve been up to”.
“Here at PFG, it’s always been our aspiration to make a platform fighter that you’ll love as much as we do. We’ve been working hard on a variety of changes and updates to deliver an improved gameplay experience.”
Hyunh said that the iconic characters in the game—which are popular characters from a plethora of franchises—remain the core aspect of MultiVersus. Adding to that are the fun-filled challenges and reimagined environments and universes.
“So, I’m happy to say we’ll be adding some really exciting brand-new personalities to the roster, along with more stages from worlds we have yet to explore.”
MultiVersus development has moved to Unreal Engine 5
To improve the visual fidelity of MultiVersus, First Player Games has moved the game’s development to Unreal Engine 5. According to Hyunh, it will help the team to “improve the game’s visuals and character lighting”.
Hyunh also mentioned that the game was rebuilt “from the ground up to support our new netcode, to provide consistent world-class online play”.
“There’ll be consistent game performance no matter what platform you’re playing on. There’ll be new attacks and combat mechanics for each character, putting more skill expression in your hands.”
The game director also announced that MultiVersus will come with a new PvE (Player vs Environment) mode. PvE in games is when players compete against non-playable characters (NPCs)—mostly AI-controlled. Hyunh said it would provide players with a new way to enjoy the game.
Having a PvE mode is particularly useful where the developer is unsure of pooling in enough players which will make a PVP mode frustrating for players, because they may have to spend a long time in a queue to get paired with other players.
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“This new mode will introduce additional ways of playing with unique rewards,” said Hyunh.
MultiVersus received over 143,000 players when it launched as an open beta in July 2022 with the concurrent player count on Steam rising to 153,433 the following day. A month later, Warner Bros. alleged that the game had been downloaded and played over 20 million times.
However, the game’s player count suddenly plummeted, dipping below 1,000 in February 2023, a 99.4% drop in peak players in less than seven months. Many players believe the rapid drop was partly the reason why the game was pulled offline.
Perhaps, the excitement around some of the changes that have been announced will help to pull players back into the game. However, the big question is whether the game will have enough content to keep as many players as possible over time. The studio will share more details in the coming weeks.
