WB's MultiVersus Officially Announced, Features Batman, Arya Stark, and More

[Shinobi Shaw]

I really hate the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion stage.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I'm not much of a gamer and this might be a stupid question, but how exactly do companies make money of free to play games such as this?

 

[Snow Queen]

I'm not much of a gamer and this might be a stupid question, but how exactly do companies make money of free to play games such as this?

There are a lot of different ways. One is the battle pass, which you subscribe for and for the season you can play and level up on the premium battle pass and earn premium, exclusive rewards such as nice skins or backgrounds. There is a new battle pass every few weeks, so this adds up if you want to keep going. Often times they will also offer discounts on the successive ones to keep you hooked. They also use funny money, so instead of buying skins, you buy premium currency and then use that to buy the skin. And with that funny money, they give it out in quantities that will always leave you with just a little left over, to incentivize you to buy another batch in order to get that other thing you want - which in turn will leave you with a bit left over, and so on.

Not applicable to this game, but many mobile games operate on energy systems wherein you can only play for free x amount of times per day. After that, there's often an option to earn more energy by watching ads they collect revenue from, but that wears out too and after a point you will only be able to play more by buying more energy.

Also not yet applicable but common is artificial time windows. Trying to pressure people into buying that thing they want because you don't know when it'll be back. Fortnite, for example, rotates its item shop every 24 hours last I checked. I played a mobile game for a bit that used to give you the chance to buy a new character for 2 weeks and then the next time around would be about four months. Each character in that game ranged from $70-120 CAD, with skins $37 CAD, each one featuring a bunch of extra stuff bundled in to try and make it look like you're getting more bang for your buck. Even buying one character in CAD is the price of a full console game.

I don't know the prices for this game, but I do know you can buy all the characters using real money turned into funny money, as well as most skins are locked behind using the funny money in order to pay them. Most of these games will reap the benefits of people who will buy that one thing they want, but really they're looking for whales. The users who will spend thousands of dollars on the same game to unlock the newest thing once it comes out, often making newly released expensive characters the new meta. One tactic used by the mobile game I played was that you'd have teams of characters, and if you bought all of them then they'd work together and basically steamroll over other teams. Or they would until the next meta came along and the next and so on.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Thanks so much, Snow Queen. Makes much more sense now.

 

[metaphysician]

The key underlying element is that, in pretty much every Free To Play game, there is some element where there is an obstacle to enjoyable play, that can be removed for cash. Something you either can't do, or can't do enough, without ponying up money. It varies from game to game how bad this gets, but there is a reason that Free To Play games have a scummy reputation.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

For the record, if you buy all the characters with real money for this game, it's still about half the cost of a full, new game (In Australian currency, anyway). The $60 AUD version of the game unlocks every single character. For reference, new games in Aus are normally closer to $100, ranging from $89.95 - $119.95.

So the fact that there's a free to play version at all is a really smart move, in my opinion. There's an instantly huge player base.

 

[Gee]

For the record, if you buy all the characters with real money for this game, it's still about half the cost of a full, new game (In Australian currency, anyway). The $60 AUD version of the game unlocks every single character. For reference, new games in Aus are normally closer to $100, ranging from $89.95 - $119.95.

So the fact that there's a free to play version at all is a really smart move, in my opinion. There's an instantly huge player base.

Having crossplay definitely helps too!

 

[MOVIELORD101]

I have to be honest: for a F2P game, this is surprisingly well-handled. Not only is the main gameplay fun and addictive like a good Smash Bros clone should be, but the microtransactions are handled in a shockingly reasonable manner! The developers aren't using them in a way to price-gouge people like most mobile games do! For instance, the battle pass is only at most $5 with plenty of credits left over for a few other goodies (I used the change to nab Garnet as a narration) whereas most BPs are close to $20! That's a bargain. In addition, you can either buy currency to get what characters you want or grind and power-up your current roster to save up for them! That's honestly a lot better than being forced to buy them.

 

[Sithborg]

So, it is going "offline" and will "return" in almost a year. Meanwhile, no refunds suckers.

Definitely feels like people just got scammed.

 

[Iceman]

I kind of want to play and get the achievements done in case it launches with new ones and doesn’t continue the current ones.

 

[Sithborg]

Finally coming back. Time to see how much good will they burned, and how much WB's recent statements have had an impact. Based on MK 1, not hopeful.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Mark Hamill is back as The Joker for MultiVersus:



Kevin Conroy has recorded a significant amount of voice lines as Batman and will ''interact'' with Hamill's Joker.

 

[Lily Adler]

Mark Hamill is back as The Joker for MultiVersus:



Kevin Conroy has recorded a significant amount of voice lines as Batman and will ''interact'' with Hamill's Joker.

So technically this is his last video game role?

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

So technically this is his last video game role?

Conroy? Technically, yes... although he will supposedly have a role in future Suicide Squad DLC coming late this year or early next year.

Both this and Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three is the last time we'll get Conroy and Hamill voicing their iconic characters. 32 years... end of an era.

You can hear some of Conroy's Batman interacting with The Joker in this video @9:45:

 

[The Caped Knight]

Mark Hamill is back as The Joker for MultiVersus:



Kevin Conroy has recorded a significant amount of voice lines as Batman and will ''interact'' with Hamill's Joker.

Once more…for old time sake.

 

[The Caped Knight]

 

[Sithborg]

Jason is certainly.... a choice. Looking forward to how bad the microtransactions will be.

 

[Sithborg]

So, this games underperformed that WB took around a 100 million write down on it. So, kind of a dead game walking, I think.

 

[Lily Adler]

So, this games underperformed that WB took around a 100 million write down on it. So, kind of a dead game walking, I think.

These Smash clones think they figured out the secret sauce, but then they make it into a microtransaction glorified beta and expect players to come back for the "official" release.

 

[Sithborg]

Lasted longer than Suicide Squad, at least.

 

[blueharvest]

Fortnite Will Get More DC Collabs After Multiversus Shutdown, It’s Claimed

Fortnite will reportedly receive more collaborations with DC after Multiversus is shut down. Here are more details.

insider-gaming.com

 

[psylockolussus]

An end of an era.

 

[Sithborg]

I would not call a year an era.

 

[Lily Adler]

I would not call a year an era.