MultiVersus Dev Mourns Game, Condemns Threats After Shutdown

The game director of MultiVersus, Tony Huynh, has publicly addressed the disturbing "threats to harm" developers that have surfaced following the announcement of the game's impending shutdown. Last week, Player First Games revealed that Season 5 of the Warner Bros. brawler would mark its final chapter, with servers scheduled to go offline in May, just a year after its relaunch. Players can still enjoy their earned and purchased content offline through local gameplay and training modes.

Although real-money transactions for MultiVersus have ceased, players can continue to utilize Gleamium and character tokens to access in-game content until support ends on May 30. At that time, MultiVersus will also be removed from digital storefronts including the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Steam, and Epic Games Store.

The announcement, coupled with the absence of a refund policy, sparked outrage among MultiVersus players, particularly those who had purchased the $100 premium Founder's Pack. Many felt "scammed," and the situation has led to a wave of negative reviews on Steam. Some players are left with character tokens that are now useless since all characters have been unlocked.

In response, Tony Huynh, co-founder of Player First Games and game director of MultiVersus, took to Twitter to express his gratitude and address the community's concerns. He emphasized the team's dedication and the emotional toll of the shutdown. Huynh's full statement reflects on the journey, the team's hard work, and the joy brought by the players:

Hey all, I wanted to say a few words as I reflect on the recently announced news about MultiVersus. While I'm sad about the outcome, I will forever be grateful for the opportunity given to us by WarnerBros. Games and to each and every developer on the Player First Games and WB Games teams. Also to every IP holder thank you for entrusting us with your babies, we hope we made the characters true to themselves and felt authentic to your fans. I couldn’t be prouder of the work the PFG team did. Their endless creativity and passion never ceased to inspire and amaze me. And of course I wanted to thank every player who has ever played or supported MultiVersus. Delighting and serving players is Player First Games objective.

I apologize for not addressing things sooner, there’s been a lot going on and I’ve been focused on the game and the team, but now more-so the team.

Thank you for sending us all the great fan art, character ideas, and personal stories. They were the highlight of every day and always excited the team.

I’m sorry if we couldn’t get to your favorite character. I do think Aquaman and Lola are really cool and I hope you all check them out. Character selection comes down to a bunch of things including development time, listening to what the community wants, working with IP holders and approvals, if there is a cross-marketing opportunity available to support, and of course if the team is inspired to make the character. So a lot goes into it.

For instance, BananaGuard came about because the team was enthusiastic about making it and on their own produced it over the weekend as a fun, quick-to-make character. When inspiration and enthusiasm spark, we want to reward that and we got BananaGuard because of that. It wasn’t at the expense of another character. It was because the team was excited about making the character.

I don’t have the power some of you think I do. PFG is a highly collaborative team and ideas are encouraged and can come from anyone and we promote delivering value to players.

I also hope that the community notices that we try to listen and act. Like any developer, we’re limited by time and resources.

I know that this is painful for everyone, and I know every member of PFG feels it too, but I have to call this out, you’re entitled to what you say and think, but when there are threats to harm, it’s crossing the line. I hope that you can take a step back and realize that this is an extremely sad time for the team. I am in deep mourning for the game. Nobody wanted this outcome and it wasn’t from lack of caring or effort.

I sincerely hope that Season 5 is enjoyed with the time we have left and that you will all continue supporting other platform fighter and fighting games as these games have impacted me in many positive ways. I’ve made so many friends and created so many great memories because of these games, and a big reason why we worked so hard at PFG was to share that with you. I hope that we played a small part and that you can look back on MVS and find some joy in the friends you made and the memories you shared.

Thank you for allowing this dream to become a reality even if for a briefer time than we would have wanted. I don’t know what the future holds for any of all of us, but I just wanted to say thank you. It has been an honor to work alongside the team at PFG to serve our community and players.

Player First Games community manager and game developer Angelo Rodriguez Jr. also used X/Twitter to defend Huynh, emphasizing the inappropriateness of the threats:

Receiving threats of physical harm against him is not and will never be the way.

I've legitimately been losing sleep over the past few days watching as all of this has been happening to Tony. The man who would stay up past midnight with us watching streams and listened for fun ideas from the players. The man who took the time to read so many messages and respond to so many people when he didn't have to. The man who spent countless hours working with every department to try and improve things we could in the weeks we had to do it. The man who went out of his way to hire so many of us from the community and gave us a shot at being involved in something so special. Tony is not who he is being painted out to be.

I know things aren't the best right now and everyone is looking for answers. Receiving threats of physical harm against him is not and will never be the way.

PFG poured their heart into this game and we still hope everyone enjoys Season 5. We never stopped pushing for improvements and again you will see 50 pages worth of them this season. I hope everyone can take the time to read through what Tony has to say, and I hope you will all think things through.

The closure of MultiVersus adds to a series of setbacks for Warner Bros. Games, following the troubled launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League last year. The departure of Warner Bros. Games boss David Haddad was announced last month, capping off a challenging year for the company. Warner Bros. Discovery reported that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League resulted in a $200 million loss, with MultiVersus contributing an additional $100 million. The third quarter of 2024 saw the release of Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, which failed to make a significant impact.

In a financial call, Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav acknowledged the underperformance of their games business. Post-launch content for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has concluded, and while Rocksteady's next project remains unannounced, the studio is reportedly working on a director's cut of Hogwarts Legacy. Amidst layoffs at Rocksteady, there are also uncertainties about the financial performance of Mortal Kombat 1, despite its reported five million sales and plans for future DLC.

Zaslav outlined Warner Bros.' strategy to focus on four key franchises: Hogwarts Legacy (with a sequel in development), Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and DC, particularly Batman. The company recently released Batman: Arkham Shadow for the Meta Quest 3 and is working on a Wonder Woman game at Monolith Productions. Zaslav stressed the importance of concentrating development efforts on these core franchises with proven studios to enhance their success rate.