Multiversus is released?

 

Some time ago there was a new entrant to that rare space of the video game online sphere- the Smash Bros alikes- to use a reductive label- The Warner Bros. Multiversus. Piggybacking off the inevitable success of Space Jam 2, this was a game that smashed as many licences as the team could get their hands on together into a fighting game smorgasbord of personalities and sass. It was a simple idea on the face made impressive by the level of detail needed to make stock-based fighting games feel right. Game feel is so important with fighting games and I have to say, Multiversus gave Smash Bros a run for it's money some times! Although that may just be because I was playing Multiversus with an actual controller, whereas for Smash Bros I'm forced to use the godawful Switch nunchakus that are terrible. Either way, I had a lot of hope for the title.

I mean sure, there's something undeniably corporate-driven about a game that chucks Aria Stark, Lebron James and Velma onto the same screen in a desperate bid for cross promotion- but honestly the crossover multiverse ideal actually gelled a lot better in games than it did for the movie. It almost feels natural to want to sneak all these brands together in a casual party game setting, instead of cramming them into the running length of a supposed narrative to score 'Oh look!' points. And honestly, with all the quality of life features the game offered, it really did feel like the team were taking a serious leap at keeping the game as player friendly as possible. As long as corporate greed remains only in the casting- that effects me so very little I can't even consider it an entity.

And then the game went quiet. After a few updates and releases of new characters and bug fixes, Multiversus just stopped being updated and eventually the community started to drift away. Smash Bros. may be able to get away with months of silence but that was an established franchise with an entry fee that people are invested with- Multiversus still had to prove itself to keep players around and it was largely failing too. Thus the begrudging drying up of matches and eventually the game just sort of unceremoniously stopped being open to play. "Well, that's it." I thought. "Another font of potential drained in a mad spurt of throwing everything out up front and leaving nothing to drip feed over the coming months. A live service journey underestimated once again." And now I'm being told that I'm completely off base with that thought and the original Multiversus was a beta?

Yeah, that wasn't the release of the game at all but a very early access version of the game, presumably to gauge interest, which was why no real updates schedule was committed to? Did anyone know that going into the supposed 'Beta'? Weren't they actually accepting store purchases during that Beta? (I can't quite recall but I vaguely recall a store.) And the game had absolutely no set boundaries of a beta-play period... I'm starting to think the team is lying to save face and this is actually a total relaunch. Afterall, the original game was pretty feature complete on a basic level, it was just lacking in content to use all those features on. This extended year of silence has flown by with barely any anticipation besides some odd rumours of a Multiversus 2 being on the horizon, because that's how it was always discussed online. Mighty suspicious if you ask me...

But strike my misgivings from the record and rejoice- Multiversus is here and done! Or so it would seem at first glance. Now we have a full release of the game with many more characters to toy around with, one of which being a Mark Hamill voiced Joker because this game has been on the back burner for so long that some of these characters were voiced back when Kevin Conroy was still alive! (Which is sad, but a nice reminder of the legacy of a legend- I suppose.) God knows why some of these characters were chosen, however. Banana Guard from Adventure Time? (My Beloved?) Gizmo from Gremlins? The most hench looking Jason I've ever seen in my life? Oh, and the kept Reindog. Of course. (Also, I am astounded that their Velma still doesn't have a Mindy Kaling variant skin- what's the matter, HBO? I thought you stood behind the series!)

Oh, what's that? Multiversus drama? The game is apparently less feature complete after all this time than when it released as a beta? There's that cooperate meddling I was expecting! You sure kept me waiting! Yes, there are quite the grumblings from folks online who claim that several steps were taken backwards in making Multiversus pop, perhaps because the 'beta' was so well received that the team released they didn't need to sacrifice so much in order to generate goodwill with their fans anymore. For example- why allow players to play offline when that doesn't directly assist their active player numbers? No more offline play! Why let players try out any not-unlocked character in training and run the risk of them not liking how a character plays and not grinding for/ outright buying them? No more free training trails! And now there are no end of match stats and leader boards because... actually that one makes no sense to me, is that just an oversight?

What strikes me is the way that Mutliversus, like many other modern online games, seems to have pitted itself so directly against solo play in the most perplexing way. As though stopping players who don't hop on with a large group of friends is the same as driving away an undesirable element from your neighbourhood. The entire competitive multiplayer genre is undertaking vast cultural gentrification and I can't stand it! No offline play, no player versus AI, no trial characters, no co-op - they've even taken away Battlepass progression through basic matches in order to force you to play their challenges so they direct the way you play- including one particularly insidious challenge that asks you to go into combat with someone else which, lacking co-op, means you have to convince someone else to install Multiversus to play at the same time as you. Crafty.

It is perplexing that Multiversus has taken such an aggressive stance with their playerbase, (and ironic for a developer called 'Player First Games') and a testament to the confidence of Warner Bros. that they think such a stance will pan out for them in the long run. To be fair, the game launched exceedingly strongly, hitting just over a hundred thousand at drop and regularly seeing 10's of thousands as the day's wax and wane. We'll see how many stick around as the problems start to compound and Multiversus agonisingly relearns the lessons that every other game in these genre's have already learnt on their behalf. Such as not lacking Battlepass progression to challenges, not blocking offline play- you know, the absolute bare basics! I hope they get it together before people just leave for the second time.