MultiVersus is a strange case; it's been available to play for about eight months, but technically, only in an open beta capacity. This prolonged phase of the game's development has allowed developer Player First Games to gather a vast amount of information and feedback, and it'll soon be implementing all that data ahead of a proper, full launch. To that end, the game will be taken offline in a few months' time.
With the above video update, game director Tony Huynh tells fans that the open beta for MultiVersus will come to an end on 25th June 2023. The studio will continue to work on the platform fighter through until a planned launch in "early 2024".
Until 25th June, you can continue playing as normal, though there will be no further game updates. After that date, all online functionality will be disabled, but you can continue to play in The Lab (training mode) and local matches. When the game does eventually launch for real, your progress and unlocks will carry over.
It sounds like Player First Games will be working on new characters, maps, and modes, as well as refreshed netcode, matchmaking improvements, and an overhauled progression system.
Having such a long open beta period is unusual, and we had assumed it would roll right into the full launch, but here we are. Hopefully the game bounces back next year and makes some changes for the better. It's always had a lot of potential, so fingers crossed it can reach that when the full game surfaces down the road.
Are you still playing MultiVersus? Hand out some toast in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 42
This game is kinda dead now so when it drops next year it’s gonna be a dead game dropping
I've never really looked into MultiVersus so this just seems really weird to me. I had no idea it was in beta this whole time.
Taking it offline so it can relaunch in 2024 suggests that it isn't meeting or maintaining expectations — otherwise they surely just release it out of beta.
Might as well cancel it completely considering how dead the game is.
I missed the hype on this, but I'm looking forward to this revamping. They need to launch more relevant characters, like Gandalf.
I enjoyed this for a day or two on launch but it got old quick. Surely taking it offline for at least 6 months will leave a sour taste for anyone who has spent money on battle pass and cosmetics and stuff.
This is a bit bizarre. Not familiar with anything like this happening before.
I always had lag playing online but I also completely forgot this was in beta
According to Steam, there are currently 511 people playing this game, down from an all-time peak of 153,433.
Its Twitch streaming stats? 324 down from an all-time peak of 183,069.
This is a dead game. I've got a funny feeling we'll never hear of it again.
I actually hopped back in after the story about the big steam player decrease came out and was reminded how fun it is! I never had any issues finding players so it must not be as dead as people claim especially considering they plan to relaunch next year. Otherwise they would have just shut it down and called it a day.
It is a bit weird to see them considering it still in beta this whole time but oh well. I wish them luck if they do actually do a full re-release early next year. It's got potential I just think the roster hasn't been as great as it could be.
Then shutdown early 2025
@LifeGirl can't base it off those numbers u don't know how many people are playing on console
What I loved about this game is that it killed the whole "fighting games should be f2p" conversation. Sure when project L releases it's most likely going to be f2p and it will be successful at the beginning but Multiversus is the perfect example of why fighting game devs shouldn't feel any pressure about the price of their games. Not even some of the most famous IP on the planet were able to carry this game for more than 6 months.
It sounds like their hoping that a "full release" will reboot the game. Problem I had with it was that it was too grindy to get the characters, plus any decent cosmetics were paid only.
@GymratAmarillo Yeah Maxmilion Dood has been a big advocate of fighting games going F2P but he focuses too much on the multiplayer experience when the majority of players play fighting game either offline or with friends.
@C25CLOUD Since it’s a cross-platform game, don’t those numbers include all players? Not sure. Anyway…
This game was in beta? Hmm. It was fun for a week or so, but needs about twice the number of characters and should include ‘em with the base game.
Whichever company can develop a fighting game that includes features that include a really, REALLY robust create-a-player (a la the character creator for Saints Row) with your own sound effects, create-a-move, create-your-own combos, and create-your-own playfield…that’ll be the game that financially succeeds on a massive scale. The Guilty Gear Strive game has a cool create a combo feature, so at least there’s one dev on the right path…. We’ll see if any of ‘em figure it out or if they continue on with the same old stuff—the SFII clones, the Smash Bros clones, and the MK clones.
Never been tempted at paying 40, 50 especially 60 or 70 for a any fighting game (yes I know said game is free). Don't find fighting the same opponents over and over again as fun, just feels like they have no depth and content lacking. I liked Mortal KombatX but only payed around £10 for it and SF5 was on plus a couple year back
I thought it was already fully launched....
@AdamNovice @GymratAmarillo
Putting aside the egregious DLC practices for a second, I actually like the idea Dead or Alive 5 and 6 had with having a FTP version and a standard priced version. Kind of get the best of both worlds.
Of course the DLC prices are what hurt that game big time but if someone could do a version of that idea with fair prices I could see the appeal.
All that said Capcom would be out of their minds to give out SF6 for free in any capacity considering how well its shaping up.
I didn't even realise it was still in beta either...
Such an odd strategy by the devs. Well, for their sake, I do hope it pays off.
I haven't played MultiVersus for a while, but I wondered why that game hasn't gotten any new content since November.
Nice to see it isn't permanently shutting down, however. I hope this game will be even better when it relaunches next year, i gotta get those Space Jam skins for Bugs and Taz with Gleamiums before they're getting pulled on my birthday!
PS: anyone who thinks this strategy is weird didn't look at the start screen and realize it's an open beta lol.
Wow, I thought this game already released, went viral, then died. I didn't know it was still in beta pending release. Ouch. That's not going to sell well.
@get2sammyb The only parallel I can think of is back in the 90's a PC game called "Subspace Continuum". It was beta/free for 2 years, then they "released" it with an hourly payment plan or $30 for unlimited, and since the game was 2 years old and everyone had played it to death and the hype train was over, it died quickly, and then just became a pirate game.
Ironically they still have it on Steam I think, and it's still played ,but it's mostly just maintained by fans with fan run servers and the like pretty much like an open source freeware game where the original dev and publisher are defunct so nobody actually enforces rights.
Imagine having spent money on a game, only not to be able to play it for over 6 months. I'd be surprised if this game survives for long when it comes back
@NEStalgia Eh, MultiVersus is free-to-play so most people will come back for the full launch. Also, most of the content you purchased during the beta will carry over to the full game.
Wtf?! This sounds a lot Like saying the game is dead and being decommissioned in a very passive soft way.
I played this recently just to check it out, and it's basically your typical Smash Bros knockoff. I didn't like how they were trying to sell all the characters separately, and since I was underwhelmed by the gameplay I just deleted it and haven't looked back.
Maybe they're taking it off line to make it a Switch 2 launch game? Might get some more people to play it? 🤷♂️
With SO MANY free to play and free to start and pay to access free games out there now and Sony supposedly making 10 more I have no idea how a game like this thinks it can go away for a year and come back and succeed. Have they not read about how many have died just recently?
It was fun at first but they killed it with too much grind and ridiculously priced skins. The Battle Pass was more expensive than Fortnite and you don’t even get any in-game currency back (like how the Fortnite Battle Pass gives you v-bucks). That’s why Fortnite keeps going strong and so many other/newer games fail.
Dreamlight Valley is in a similar position (been in Beta for months) but I think it’s still quite popular atm. And at least you earn in-game currency back through their ‘Battle Pass’.
I forgot it was only in beta. So the game isn’t dead? Not paying full price for it so keep it free. Even then I still wouldn’t buy it at this point, I keep forgetting this game exists
The sas thing is even the relaunch of this has more of a chance of succeeding than Suicide Squad
lets celebrate!!! yall devs wanna keep making low indie trash for quick 5 minutes of hype, did they make any money from this game ?
i hope not
Man, it’s been a few good months since I played this game and I had no idea it was still in beta phase. I lost interest cause it took awhile for updates and the fact you have to grind to get stuff. Maybe it will be something to look forward to when it comes back next year.
Hey wait, didn’t this game win fighting game of the year last year? Might as well give the award to King of Fighters 15 now.
It would be more popular if it had Ice Bear from We Bare Bears.
yeah its not coming back, it will be quietly shelved.
I'm trying to.complete the battle pass. Such a shame. I was really expecting to blow up.
@jgrangervikings1 no they were pulling steam numbers and not everyone stream games.
Lol this is hilarious. They want a do-over after having sold micro transactions for it.
Gameplay itself is fairly good imo but the devs pretty much ruined the game's rep with microtransactions among other bad choices, and the fact that Multiversus is still in beta phase obviously doesn't help either. I'd be surprised if the "Fighting Game of The Year 2022" (🤣) survives for atleast two weeks when it relaunch next year.
@GymratAmarillo did it kill it, though? Wasn't it super successful when it came out? How do other fighting games fare in comparison? How many top the charts exactly? Sure, it was extremely front loaded, but that doesn't mean it didn't make a greater profit than most fighting games.
More sketchy live service shenanigans.
I am praying for a big comeback, but sadly seems likely it will either die after re-launch or be silently killed off.
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