Player First's brawler will be sunset forever in the coming months.
"Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of GRTV News.
Today we have a bit of, well we're going to be talking about the big news actually that happened at the end of Friday, which was basically that Multiverses, despite the fact that it has already had one chance to go away and then come back, it will be, well, shutting down forever in May."
"Yeah, that's right, Player First Games' action brawler multiplayer game, however you want to frame it, it's not going to be around for much longer.
It will still be playable and accessible, but only in an offline state, meaning it's going to be losing basically all of its support and all of its online elements, and essentially the game is being sunset."
"So anyway, let's dive in and take a look.
So yes, Multiverses will be shut down forever in May.
We'll only be able to play it offline in four months.
So Warner Brothers surprised millions of eager players when they announced that the Multiverses beta was being shut down in 2023 to prepare the game for its official launch."
"Many believed this was a mistake and that the game wouldn't be able to return to its former glory.
It didn't take long before we learned that these theories were correct, so it was only a question of time before today's announcement.
Player First Games confirms that Multiverses will be shut down and removed from stores forever on the 13th of May."
"Those of you who have played the game before now and then will be able to continue playing offline with friends or bots while everyone else lost their chance.
This means Aquaman and Lola Buddy will be the last characters added to the game when Season 5 starts on the 4th of February.
It'll be interesting to see what this means for the future of the developers at Player First Games as these kinds of announcements rarely happen without layoffs, and that's six months after Warner Brothers bought the studio too."
"So yeah, we've heard various different reports coming about the way that Warner Brothers is treating their video game department.
Obviously Rocksteady has been in a bit of a rough patch following Suicide Squad.
There's been rumours that they're looking to sell off lots of their video game department as well.
And now you have this happening as well."
"Again, Warner Brothers, they only bought Player First Games around six months ago.
Which means that no doubt, it kind of screams to me like a bit of an executive...
A little bit of a gap between how executives understand the games industry again.
Because they've clearly bought this studio assuming that the multiverse was going to be as popular as it was back in 2023."
"But obviously, you had a game that was doing quite well.
I think it was sort of tapering off a little bit, but it was still doing alright.
Then you take it offline for like an almost 18-month period, and you bring it back.
And surprisingly, not as many people are excited about it the second time around."
"And now yeah, obviously Multiverse has only been out fully for...
Well, it launched on the 28th of May.
So by the time that this game goes offline, it's going to have been out for literally a year and two days.
And yeah, now it's being shut down. It won't have any online elements."
"It won't have any further post-launch support.
It will just be available in the way that the game was shaped, shall we say, by the end of the Season 5.
And you'll only be able to play it offline.
And again, as Eric mentions in the piece there, a decision like this, especially with the fact that the multiverse was just kind of a complete package in its beta, still lacked a little bit of refinement and additional content, but the body was there."
"And then they took it offline, spent a bunch of money on it, upgraded it to Unreal Engine 5, I believe, and all that.
And then this happens.
You have to assume that there's going to be repercussions that are going to be put on player-first games.
And yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if layoffs are on the table relatively soon."
"Maybe something more. Who knows?
Big changes and big decisions like this, they do not come without issues for the developer in question.
But again, we'll stay tuned and see how this shapes up.
But it's been so far, the last, say, six months or so have not been particularly great."
"Well, I say six months. Last year, really, haven't been particularly great for live service titles.
And this is just another notch in that belt.
But yeah, that's all the time I have in today's episode of GRTV News.
But I'll be back tomorrow for the next one, so stay tuned for that."
"And otherwise, yeah, I hope you enjoy your Monday, and I'll see you all for the next one.
Take care, everyone."