The open beta of MultiVersus was one of the biggest events that fighting games have experienced in recent years. No game had managed to overshadow Super Smash Bros since the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but Warner’s game achieved the impossible. After its closure, many people were disappointed and eagerly awaited this release. Which has ended up being, at best, bittersweet.
Although the numbers are spectacular and the game improvements are there, with new characters, scenarios, and fixed hitboxes to work as they should, not everything is good news. And it is that the developing studio has decided to make a series of changes to the game systems. Changes that have not been well received due to what they imply: a more aggressive monetization.
Many people have noticed that there are restrictions on character selection in local matches. During the open beta, as long as it was a local match or training mode, you could play with any character. This is no longer possible. Multiversus offers a rotation of a handful of characters, but all the others must be unlocked in order to be played. Making it impossible to play the game locally, unless all the characters are unlocked beforehand.
This is a problem for several reasons. And all of them come down to the monetization of the game. Although it is possible to unlock all the characters simply by playing, the fastest method is to pay around 10 euros per character. A reasonable amount if you want one or two characters, but not if you want the entire roster.
What does this mean? It means that if you want to try a certain character, you have to pay or wait for it to be available in rotation. If your friends come to play at your house, they can only play with the characters you have unlocked. If you want to practice against a specific character, you have to unlock it beforehand. And the worst part of it all. Anyone who wants to organize game tournaments will have to unlock all the characters beforehand, making the competitive structure of the game much more difficult for no apparent reason. Or no reason other than greed.
All of this has enraged fans, tarnishing an otherwise fantastic release. Therefore, it is to be expected to see what the response from Warner Bros. and Player First Games is in what is nothing short of a publicity nightmare. This could potentially kill a good portion of the momentum of a game that has had a spectacular start.
