''MultiVersus'' is a 2022

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

fighting video game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining attac ...

developed by Player First Games and published by

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE; also known as Warner Bros. Games or WB Games) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the newly-formed Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of ...

. The game is a

platform fighter Platform fighter is a video game subgenre of fighting games that cover games that emphasize fighting on stages with free 2D movement, similar to a platform game. Gameplay Matches take place on a 2D plane, usually on a stage with platforms float ...

, featuring characters from

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with Di ...

franchises, and is available for

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and Xbox Series X, S. Officially announced in November 2021 following online rumors and leaks, early access and open beta versions of the game released in July 2022.

Gameplay

''MultiVersus'' is a

, with players battling on different stages and attempting to knock the opponent beyond the stage's boundary by dealing sufficient damage. While 1-vs-1 and free-for-all options are available, the game emphasizes battling in teams of two characters; most attacks in the game are designed with this in mind, including other players passively strengthening the move's effect. ''MultiVersus'' features a perk system, which allows players to customize their characters with passive abilities that will also affect their partners in Teams. These include Signature Perks, which are exclusive to a respective character and directly affect their attributes and abilities. If players in the same team equip the same perks, those perks' effects are enhanced.

Currencies and Season Pass

''MultiVersus'' features two currencies: Gold, which is primarily used to purchase characters and train perks; and Gleamium, a premium currency that can be used to buy variants, taunts, banners, and Premium Season Passes in addition to characters. Gold is obtained by normally playing the game through various means, while Gleamium is purchasable with real-world currencies. During certain events, specific tokens can be earned by playing in any mode and playing with specific character variants doubles the amount. These currencies can be used to purchase cosmetic items or, in the case of candy during the Monster Mash event, traded for Gold, with 10 Gold for every 500 candy units. The Season Pass contains two tiers: Normal, which is free for all players; and Premium, which requires Gleamium to purchase. In both tiers, players earn points by completing daily and seasonal missions. Obtainable items include gold, toast and cosmetics such as banners and ring-out effects. Progress in both tiers is tied; if the Premium tier is purchased after progress is made on the Normal tier, all rewards will retroactively be obtained.

Playable characters

, ''MultiVersus'' features 23 playable characters. With one exception, Reindog, these characters originate from the intellectual properties of

. Voice acting is prominently emphasized, and several voice actors reprise their respective roles from other media. Characters can be any one of five classes—Assassin, Bruiser, Mage, Support, and Tank—and are best suited for covering a specific direction, these being horizontal, vertical, or hybrid. Every character has at least one playable

variant Variant may refer to: In arts and entertainment * ''Variant'' (magazine), a former British cultural magazine * Variant cover, an issue of comic books with varying cover art * ''Variant'' (novel), a novel by Robison Wells * " The Variant", 2021 e ...

, some of which have different voice actors or dialogue from the default variant. Characters can be unlocked through gameplay, or purchased using gold, Gleamium, or Character Tickets included with the Founder's Pack content packages; four specific characters are also playable for all users on a rotating basis. The game's open beta initially launched with 17 characters, with new characters frequently added in subsequent updates.

Development

The game is developed by Player First Games. Dedicated servers,

rollback netcode Netcode is a blanket term most commonly used by gamers relating to networking in online games, often referring to synchronization issues between clients and servers. Players often infer "bad netcodes" when they experience lag or when their inputs ...

, and voice acting have been promoted as prominent features, and the team intend to release new content and characters via constant updates. The game held a closed alpha test from February 25–March 8, 2022.

Background and leak

Prior to its announcement in November 2021, the existence of ''MultiVersus'' was leaked and rumoured to exist by multiple sources online. Initially, a user on the

subreddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

r/GamingLeaksandRumours claimed that the game came about early 2019 as a result of the release of ''

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeed ...

'' and Warner Bros. workers being aware of the " Ultra Instinct Shaggy"

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

. They had claimed the idea of a crossover influenced the filming of '' Space Jam: A New Legacy'', although the validity of these claims for both products have yet to be confirmed or denied by Player First Games or Warner Bros. On October 27, 2021, professional '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' player

Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma Juan Manuel DeBiedma (; born June 21, 1993), better known by his alias Hungrybox, is an Argentine-American professional '' Super Smash Bros.'' player and streamer. Recognized as one of the best and most successful ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' play ...

shared an image on

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containing what he alleged was the character selection screen for an upcoming Warner Bros. platform fighter called ''MultiVersus''. DeBiedma claimed that he had received secret inside information about the game. The image was later deleted after Warner Bros. submitted a

DMCA takedown The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) is United States federal law that creates a conditional 'safe harbor' for online service providers (OSP) (a group which includes internet service providers (ISP) and other Inter ...

request, which DeBiedma stated was a "hard confirm" of the photograph's veracity. The leak included

Gandalf Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a Wizards (Middle-earth), wizard, one of the ''Istari'' order, and the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring (characters), Fellowship of t ...

from ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'' and

Rick Sanchez Rick Sanchez is one of the two eponymous characters from the Adult Swim animated television series ''Rick and Morty'' and resulting franchise. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon and voiced by the former, Sanchez is a misanthropic alcoh ...

from ''

Rick and Morty {{Infobox television , image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png , alt = , caption = , genre = {{Plainlist, * Animated sitcom * Adult animation * Science fiction * Black comedy * ...

'' as playable characters instead of Arya Stark and Garnet. Superman and Steven Universe's designs were updated to be shown in the trailer. Jeff Grubb, a gaming insider, confirmed that ''

Space Jam ''Space Jam'' is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka, with animation sequences directed by Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone, and written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, and Herschel ...

'' series iteration of LeBron James with would be playable. Internal game design documents for the game were leaked on

ResetEra ResetEra is one of the world's biggest gaming forums, with an average of 60 million page views monthly. The site was set up in 2017 after staff and users of NeoGAF broke away to form their own website, following sexual misconduct allegations agai ...

. Following the tech test, gameplay footage was leaked online. On May 26, 2022, the same leaker who leaked the game before its announcement revealed that the game had more characters such as

Daenerys Targaryen Daenerys Targaryen ( ) is a fictional character in the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' by American author George R. R. Martin. She is a prominent Narrative mode#Third-person view, point of view character, and is one of ...

Ted Lasso ''Ted Lasso'' is an American sports comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. It is based on a character of the same name that Sudeikis first portrayed in a series of promos for NB ...

Morty Smith Mortimer Chauncey "Morty" Smith, Sr. is one of the eponymous characters from the American animated television series ''Rick and Morty''. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, and voiced by the former, Morty is a 14-year-old boy loosely ...

, and

Marvin the Martian Marvin the Martian is an extraterrestrial character from Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons. He frequently appears as a villain in cartoons and video games, and wears a helmet and skirt. The character has been voice ...

Early access and open beta

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alph ...

version was released on July 19 for those that participated in the game's closed playtests and/or competing in the game's first 2v2 tournament at the 2022

Evolution Championship Series The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games. The tournaments are completely open and use the double elimination format. As with Super Battle Opera, contestants ...

, and via

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's Drops reward system and/or purchasable founder packs, which are available for a limited time. During the 2022

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event, Rick and Morty were both announced together to appear in the game; LeBron James was also announced at the event. Shortly after, the game's open beta was released on July 26, 2022, which was confirmed to serve as a

soft launch A soft launch, also known as a soft opening, is a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general public. Soft-launching a product is sometimes used to gather data or customer feedback, prior to making it widely ...

for the game. The limited-time Founder Pack distribution for PC is done via

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

and

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, as well as the Microsoft Store for Xbox consoles and the PlayStation Store for PlayStation consoles. There are three versions: Standard, Deluxe, and Premium. During the game's open beta period, Bugs Bunny players held the number-one ranked slot in both 1-v-1 and 2-v-2 leaderboards. The character's prevalence among top-ranked 2-v-2 players was notable, and nerfs to the character have been scheduled to be implemented after

EVO 2022 The 2022 Evolution Championship Series (commonly referred to as Evo 2022 or EVO 2022) was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas from August 5 to 7, 2022 as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments ...

. Buffs to Wonder Woman were also announced. The first season of the title was originally scheduled to launch on August 9, 2022, but was delayed and rescheduled for August 15.

Patches

Since the game's release, various characters' abilities have been frequently modified. A notable instance is one of

Velma Dinkley Velma Dinkley is a fictional character in the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. She is usually seen wearing a baggy orange turtleneck sweater, a short pink pleated skirt (or in later episodes an A-line skirt, or sometimes shorts), knee socks, Mary Jane ...

's abilities; the police car featured in that move was replaced with the Mystery Machine.

Reception

The game received generally positive reviews during its open beta. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' wrote "''MultiVersus'' may not be a must-play at social gatherings, but its refreshing team-based battles make it a great platform fighter online." Play summarized that it was "full of love for the characters, and crunchy to play, you owe it to yourself to give this a go – though the monetisation methods are off-putting." Its launch on Steam was the most successful for a WB Games title, and the biggest launch for a fighting game released on the platform. The game topped the American sales charts for July 2022, falling to number 5 the following month. It was the most downloaded game on the US PlayStation Store for the same month, and number 2 in Europe. It also topped the sales charts in Australia. It was the most popular title on the

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platform. By August 2022, the game had reached 10 million players. By September, it had reached 20 million.

Notes

References

External links