MultiVersus was at one time the most popular fighting game. Extremely briefly, at least. The game was promising near-constant content drops and tournaments were popping up within the very first weeks of early access. It was an amazing start, but MultiVersus had a life shorter than the majority of paid fighting games. What exactly happened? Why did MultiVersus die?
At launch, the MultiVersus player count broke records. It’s now died twice. The game isn’t offline yet, but for a second time the game’s servers are shutting down. So, what went so wrong with MultiVersus? we’ve got a few reasons why the game faltered.
Source: Player First Games
Why Did MultiVersus Die a Second Time?
Most games might die once, but after that it’s over. Not MultiVersus though. It got the special honor of dying twice.
After initially shutting down once, getting completely remade, Player First Games tried again. However, this second run didn’t prove much more popular. It’s shutting down again, this time even sooner. Now, we know it’s really the end of the line for MultiVersus. Why did MultiVersus die again?
One big factor working against it was the changes made to leave the beta. The entire pace and build of the game was slowed down. For a platform fighter, this didn’t make it very fun to play. To newcomers, it made it more frustrating than it should have been. For returning players, everything just felt a bit off. A bit stickier than it did before.
MultiVersus also had the problem of its actual content. As a crossover fighter, it could have pulled in anything from the history of Warner Brothers to flesh out the game’s rosters. However, they repeatedly made weird picks. At the end of the game’s life, plenty of the most iconic characters in open to the game hadn’t been added at all. Yet minor characters had.
Essentially, players just weren’t interested in a second try for MultiVersus and it did nothing to change their minds. Those who did try it again found a game that hadn’t actually improved from its first failure, it had just gotten a bit worse to actually play. Content didn’t arrive much faster, the game still felt unfinished, and the low player count meant online play just didn’t have the same appeal.
Source: Player First Games
Can MultiVersus Come Back Again?
Probably not. MultiVersus has died twice and now seems completely finished. The developer has been closed down, and Warner Bros has changed their entire approach to how they handle video games. They won’t be persuading projects like MultiVersus anymore. They’ll be leveraging their IP in other developer’s games instead. Like bringing them back to Fortnite, instead of making them MultiVersus characters.
Why Did MultiVersus Die the First Time?
Looking at why did MultiVersus die, there are a few factors which seem to be the biggest contributors to the decline. In the rawest sense of why the game got shut down, it’s easy to see. The player count had dwindled down to basically nothing.
MultiVersus launched with some of the highest numbers we’ve seen for a fighting game, even including the huge Street Fighter 6 release. However, it couldn’t sustain this.
The game’s content just didn’t deliver fast enough to keep players engaged. The active player count began decreasing pretty quickly. Within a few months, when delays and content droughts began to get more frequent, the player count which much lower. Within 6 months of launching, it has lost around 99% of its initial players. Distareous for a live service game. Especially for one that’s not even out of early access.
As a free-to-play game, MultiVersus depends on people purchasing cosmetics and other in-game items to continue generating profit. That wasn’t happening with its player numbers where they were. The game might not have been shut down, but with its numbers in 2023, there simply wasn’t a reason to keep it up any more.
Source: Player First Games
Why Did Players Leave MultiVersus so quickly?
The answer to why did MultiVersus die is likely down to the player count getting so low, but why did so many leave? A good number leaving from that initial hype is to be expected. It was a game which a lot of players who aren’t fighting game devotees tried the title out. The game failed to cling onto a big enough core player base though.
At launch, MultiVersus promised frequent updates. Events, new characters, and other features. It launched in early access without enough features to be called a full game. There simply wasn’t enough to do. New characters got delayed pretty quickly. Then events began getting delayed. Then, even basic fixes for bugs and MultiVersus patches began to take weeks and months to appear.
The game felt abandoned.
Source: Player First Games
Despite the big promises by developers, MultiVersus was failing to deliver the level of content expected. For a title in early access hoping to make its money from in-game currency, it was a laughable level of support. The delays and droughts between anything happening in-game killed a lot of enthusiasm. Those who stuck around for the core fighting mechanics had to put up with things being broken for a long time between patches. It wasn’t a fun game to play, and the audience responded to that.
Then it got a second chance. And largely didn’t fix any of its problems, which lead to player counts lower than decades old games. Which has meant MultiVersus has died a second time.