MultiVersus has been removed from all digital storefronts as Warner Bros and developer Player First Games prepare to relaunch it next year.
Last month it was announced thatthe game was set to be taken offline, and that it would return in early 2024.
On Tuesday community manager Cory Taylor posted a message on the game’s official Discord server informing players that the game has now been pulled from stores and its premium currency, Gleamium, is no longer available to purchase.
“As of now,MultiVersusis no longer downloadable for new players and has been temporarily removed from storefronts, along with Gleamium,” Taylor wrote.
“you may play online modes until June 25 before the game goes offline in preparation for launch.”
Response from the fanbase hasn’t been positive – while the Discord server’s announcements channel doesn’t allow replies it does allow users to post emojis in response, and the emojis posted far more times than others are a skull (implying a ‘dead game’) and the ‘crying laughing’ emoji.
As Taylor noted, the game’s servers will remain online until June 25, at which point they’ll be switched off.
When this happens, all MultiVersus online modes and features will be unavailable. Players will have limited offline access to local matches and the game’s training room, including their characters and cosmetic items within these modes.
Warner Broshas said that previously earned or purchased in-game content will transfer to the full game when it’s re-released next year, but refunds for this content won’t be available.
In a message posted last month, Player First Games co-founder and game director Tony Huynh said the game was being taken offline because “there’s still a lot of work to do”, noting that the team was specifically working on “the content cadence of new characters, maps and modes to give you more ways to enjoy the game, along with updated netcode and more matchmaking improvements”.
Huynh continued: “We do know that this news might be disappointing, but rest assured, MultiVersus will be back.”
The MultiVersus open beta launched in July 2022 and was initially very popular, with a peak of more than 143,000 players onSteamon day one, rising to 153,433 the following day.
Further reading
A month after its launch, Warner claimed that over 20 million players had already downloaded and played the game, suggesting it had a strong base on which to build.
Since then, however, the daily peak player count has fallen dramatically.Last month it dipped below 1,000 for the first time, marking a drop in daily peak player count of 99.3574% in less than seven months.
Part of the reason for the drop in players may be a tepid response to the game’s Season 2 content. The game’s first season saw the release of five new characters over the course of around two months.
However, since Season 2 started in mid-November, just one character – Marvin the Martian – has been released. Following a delay, Season 3 was due to begin March 31, but now Season 2’s battle pass has been extended until the open beta’s closure.
