After nearly a year on the bench, the WB platform fighter MultiVersus is back in action starting May 28.
Player First Games’ free-to-play title went offline (and got delisted) last June when it was still in beta. At the time, the studio assured the game would return in full swing sometime in early 2024.
Still free-to-play, the full MultiVersus release will run on Unreal Engine 5, and come with a new PvE mode. Director Tony Hyunh stressed the team “learned a lot” from its beta, and aims to “deliver an improved gameplay experience.”
When its beta period started in 2022, MultiVersus’ player count quickly rose to 20 million players in its first month. By the end of that year, it was one of the most-downloaded PlayStation games.
Warner Bros. is fighting for MultiVersus to matter
For a company that has no problem deleting anything it chooses, Warner Bros. has put a surprising amount of faith in MultiVersus. Hyunh even noted the game was safe from WB’s immediate shake-ups after its merger with Discovery in 2022.
Last November, WBD head David Zaslav indicated the company would lean more towards free-to-play and live-service games. This game, plus Mortal Kombat 1 and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, were touted as examples of its future output.
Even with Squad’s alleged underperformance, those plans don’t appear to have changed. The publisher might first want to see how MultiVersus does after its real launch.
With live-service games in a weird state, and the odd circumstances of MultiVersus’ release, it’s anyone’s guess as to how that will shake out.