opinion: Multiversus is already breaking player records before the release of the open beta. Our author thinks: for good reason!
When I saw the first trailer for MultiVersus at the end of last year, I was anything but enthusiastic at first: colourful comic graphics and Free2Play? At first glance, a typical children”s game. Nah, thanks, you can keep that.
However, just like back then with Fortnite, I now have to admit to myself that first impressions aren”t everything and that I was once again too hasty with my prejudices. MultiVersus is not only already the most played fighting game of all time on Steam, but also quite rightly so!
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Why MultiVersus could be the next Steam phenomenon
Last week MultiVersus started in the Early Access of the Open Beta, only those who bought a Founders Pack or got a Beta Key via Twitch Drop were allowed to play in. The real launch will take place on 26 July 2022, but MultiVersus is already the most played fighting game of all time.
According to the (player numbers from SteamDB) over 140,000 players are online at the same time at the peak. A look at my ingame profile reveals that I am currently ranked 830,874th in the world, despite a win rate of 67 percent after more than 120 games. So you can be sure that there are already several million players here:
For comparison: Dragon Ball FighterZ was the biggest fighting game on Steam so far with an all-time high of 44,000 concurrent players. Big names like Tekken 7 (19,000 players) and Street Fighter 5 (14,000 players) can only dream of such numbers.
Clearly, Free2Play, popular characters and artificial scarcity through Twitch drops do the rest. But the success is justified.
1: The gameplay is convincing
If you don”t know what MultiVersus is all about, the gameplay is very reminiscent of Super Smash Bros. and Brawlhalla. You have to beat up other players and kick them out of the level to collect points.
While everything screams Smash clone, even though the gameplay feels familiar and just as fantastic as the great role model Smash, MultiVersus has its own identity. The main focus here is not on 1v1 combat like in Smash, but on 2v2 duels.
You can see how it plays in the gameplay trailer:
Some characters have a full support kit and almost all characters have at least one ability that benefits another teammate. Wonder Woman, for example, can use her lasso not only to pull enemies towards her, but also to pull teammates who are in danger of being kicked off the map.
When it comes to character design, MultiVersus does an excellent job anyway: All heroes have their own identity and moveset, whereas in Smash, the characters from the Fire Emblem franchise in particular feel quite similar.
2: Big brands = big traction
Speaking of characters: In MultiVersus, heroines and heroes from countless franchises come together and due to the already large selection, there should be something for everyone: Older players may be enthusiastic about Bugs Bunny or Tom & Jerry, while younger ones are more likely to reach for the heroes from Adventure Time or Steven Universe. DC superheroes like Batman and Superman are timeless anyway.
By the way, the bunte comic style works amazingly well with live-action characters like Arya Stark (Game of Thrones) or Lebron James from the terrible Space Jam sequel. The art style lets these characters stay true to their original series while still allowing them to pair well with cartoon characters in a game.
In addition, all the characters are fully voiced and deliver numerous cool sayings. When Harley Quinn threatens to feed Shaggy from Scooby-Doo to her hyenas, for example, there is a real crossover feeling. Dataminers have also discovered that there are even appropriate sayings for certain times of the day and year. If you play as Harley Quinn against Batman during the Christmas season, for example, she occasionally sings a short Jingle Bells, Batman smells.
– such details are just cool.
And finally, there is still huge potential for the future Warner has a huge catalogue of franchises, including Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Matrix, Mad Max and Godzilla. Even horror films like IT or The Exorcist are conceivable – for me as an absolute scary fan a dream. This can only be topped by a fairy-light-wielding Clark Griswold from Schöne Bescherung
3: Fair Free2Play
The Free2Play principle is controversial anyway, but has recently taken another severe blow with the brazen monetisation in Diablo Immortal . But fortunately there are also plenty of fair Free2Play titles, such as the Witcher card game Gwent:
And MultiVersus is also one of them: With real money you only unlock skins for your favourite heroes and the characters themselves. The latter is also possible with the in-game currency gold. In the first few hours of the game, you will collect enough of it quickly to unlock at least two new heroes – in addition to the five free game characters anyway.
To make sure you don”t buy a pig in a poke, all characters can be used without limitations in training and local game mode. Only when you go into the online battles, the respective hero must be unlocked.
The required gold comes in much slower after completing the first quests and larger amounts are only available for the first victory of the day – but if you secure this regularly, you can buy a new character every two weeks
If WB Games doesn”t make the mistake of making new heroes far too strong, I don”t see a problem here and also no Pay2Win. Because even if there are currently some characters like Taz that invite you to spam the same attack, the balancing is successful.
In the end, all that remains for me to say is that MultiVersus is the first serious alternative to Super Smash Bros. on the PC for me. Sure, there”s also Brawlhalla, but not only do I dislike the weird weapon system there, but I also miss the beloved characters. If WB supports it long term, longevity seems almost guaranteed.
MultiVersus will be available for free to all players on 26 July at 7pm. Will you play it? And if you already have, how do you like it? Feel free to let us know in the comments
