The director of MultiVersus has publicly addressed the "threats of harm" that developers have received following the news of the game's upcoming closure.
Last week, Player First Games announced that Season 5 of the Warner Bros. platform fighter would be its last, with the MultiVersus servers shutting down this May, merely a year after its re-launch. Players will retain access to all earned and purchased content offline through local play and training modes.
While real-money purchases are now disabled, players can still use existing Gleamium and character tokens to unlock content until support concludes on May 30. MultiVersus will also be removed from the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Steam, and Epic Games Store at that time.
The announcement, made without immediate details on refunds, drew sharp criticism from players who purchased the $100 premium Founder's Pack, with some feeling deceived. Reports indicate many frustrated customers now hold character tokens they cannot use, having already unlocked the full roster. Unsurprisingly, the game is facing a wave of negative user reviews on Steam.
Tony Huynh, co-founder of Player First Games and game director for MultiVersus, took to Twitter to acknowledge player frustrations and condemn the violent threats directed at the development team.
Here’s Huynh’s statement in full:
I want to share a few thoughts as I process the recent news about MultiVersus. While I'm deeply saddened by this outcome, I will always be grateful for the opportunity Warner Bros. Games gave us and for every developer on the Player First Games and WB Games teams. I also thank every IP holder for trusting us with your beloved characters; we aimed to stay true to their essence and satisfy your fans. I couldn't be prouder of the PFG team's work. Their boundless creativity and passion continuously inspired me. And of course, I thank every player who ever supported MultiVersus. Delighting our players has always been our primary goal.
I apologize for not speaking sooner. A lot has been happening, and my focus has been on the game and, more importantly, the team.
Thank you for sharing all the incredible fan art, character concepts, and personal stories. They were the highlight of our days and constantly energized the team.
I'm sorry if we couldn't include your most-wanted character. I do think Aquaman and Lola Bunny are fantastic, and I hope you give them a try. Character selection involves many factors: development time, community feedback, collaboration with IP holders and securing approvals, potential cross-promotional opportunities, and, crucially, whether the team feels inspired to create that character. It's a complex process.
Take Banana Guard, for example. That character happened because the team was genuinely excited about it and independently created it over a weekend as a fun, quick project. When that kind of inspiration ignites, we encourage it. Banana Guard didn't replace another character; it was born from the team's enthusiasm.
I don't wield the unilateral power some believe I do. PFG is a highly collaborative studio where ideas are encouraged from everyone, all with the aim of delivering value to players.
I also hope the community recognizes that we strive to listen and act. Like any developer, we are constrained by time and resources.
I understand this is a painful moment for everyone, and every member of PFG feels it too. But I must address this directly: while you are entitled to your opinions, making threats of harm crosses a serious line. I hope you can step back and recognize this is an extremely difficult time for the team. I am personally mourning the loss of this game. No one wanted this result, and it certainly wasn't due to a lack of care or effort.
I sincerely hope you enjoy Season 5 in the time we have left and that you'll continue to support other platform fighters and fighting games. These genres have positively impacted my life in countless ways, leading to lifelong friendships and cherished memories. A key reason we worked so hard at PFG was to share that experience with you. I hope we played a small part and that you can look back on MultiVersus with fondness for the friends made and memories shared.
Thank you for helping make this dream a reality, even if its time was shorter than we'd hoped. I don't know what the future holds for any of us, but I simply wanted to say thank you. It has been an honor to work with the PFG team to serve our community and players.
Player First Games community manager and developer Angelo Rodriguez Jr. also posted on X/Twitter to defend Huynh, emphasizing: "Receiving threats of physical harm against him is not and will never be acceptable."
"I've genuinely been losing sleep these past few days watching all this happen to Tony," he said.
"This is the man who would stay up past midnight with us watching streams and listening for creative ideas from players. The man who took time to read countless messages and respond to people when he didn't have to. The man who spent endless hours collaborating with every department to implement improvements in the limited time we had. The man who actively hired so many of us from the community and gave us a chance to be part of something special. Tony is not the person he's being portrayed as.
"I know the situation isn't ideal and everyone is seeking answers. But threatening him with physical harm is never the solution.
"PFG poured its heart into this game, and we still hope everyone enjoys Season 5. We never stopped pushing for improvements, and you'll see about 50 pages worth of them this season. I hope everyone reads Tony's full statement and takes a moment to reflect."
The end of MultiVersus marks another high-profile setback for Warner Bros. Games, following the troubled launch of *Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League* last year. Last month, the departure of Warner Bros. Games head David Haddad was announced after a difficult 12 months for the division.
Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery stated that the failure of *Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League* led to a $200 million loss for the business, with MultiVersus adding another $100 million to that figure. Warner Bros. Games' sole new release in Q3 2024 was *Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions*, which failed to gain significant traction.
During an earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav said: "We recognize [the games business] is substantially underperforming its potential right now.”
Subsequently, post-launch content for *Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League* has concluded with its year-one roadmap. Warner Bros. has not announced Rocksteady's next project, though the studio is reportedly assisting with a director's cut of *Hogwarts Legacy*. The renowned UK developer has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs in recent months.
Questions also surround the financial performance of *Mortal Kombat 1*, although NetherRealm's Ed Boon recently announced over five million units sold and hinted at future DLC following the release of the T-1000 Terminator guest character.
During the same earnings call, Zaslav said Warner Bros. was concentrating its efforts on four core franchises: *Hogwarts Legacy* (a sequel is already in development), *Mortal Kombat*, *Game of Thrones*, and DC, "in particular Batman." Warner Bros. recently published the VR title *Batman: Arkham Shadow* exclusively for Meta Quest 3 and has a *Wonder Woman* game in production at Monolith Productions.
"We are focusing our development efforts on those core franchises, with proven studios to improve our success ratio," Zaslav added.
