If you didn’t hear, Player First Games, the team behind Multiversus, dropped a bombshell yesterday informing players about the game’s status. Recall that the crossover fighting title featuring characters from the many walks of Warner Bros Discovery life was only in beta. But it was being played as if the game was out in full. However, Player First Games revealed that they were going to shut down the title starting in June so that they could start work on the “final touches and improvements” for the game. They also said that the game would likely be back in early 2024.
On the one hand, you can understand why they would want that downtime to focus on improving the title, and they promised many fixes. But, on the other hand, you can see why this would be so jarring to players who had already invested so much time, energy, and possibly money into the game.
That’s right. One of the things that surprised many when Multiversus came out was that Player First Games offered multiple “packs” for gamers to skip some of the grindings and get all the players and items they wanted. Some even cost $100 and were dubbed a “Founder’s Pack.”
But when the announcement of the shutdown happened, some took to Twitter to note their displeasure about not being able to play a game they put money into:
If it was only a few dollars, you could say they were petty and needed to “get over it.” But gamers like the one above and the many others who bought the various packs likely feel like they’re getting screwed over. Despite being in beta, the game made so much money when it was released in July in beta form that it topped the US sales charts! That doesn’t just happen. But despite that, they’ll only have access to local online play and the training area when the shutdown happens.
You might ask, “what about refunds?” Well, that was another thing brought up on Twitter:
They won’t get refunds due to the Player First Games policy, which is rubbing many the wrong way. To put it in perspective, imagine a beta for your favorite multiplayer franchise came out, and for six months, you toiled in it and put in money to get perks. Then it suddenly went away for an undisclosed amount of time. Would you be happy with that? We didn’t think so, so you can understand these gamers’ plight.
