WB Games had originally announced that May 30 would be the last day for the MultiVersus servers all the way back in January. In its announcement, the company had said that the game’s fifth season would serve as its final update.

Along with taking the servers offline, MultiVersus will also be delisted from all digital storefronts, including Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store. This means that no new players will be able to buy the game going forward.

“This decision was not made lightly,” posted developer Player First Games back when it had announced the servers being shut down. “All of us on the Player First Games and Warner Bros Games teams have put our heart and soul into MultiVersus, creating a unique social and cooperative experience from the ground up that brings together a variety of popular characters and worlds.”

“We are very proud of the game we have built and are incredibly thankful for the support of the MultiVersus community throughout this journey. Your passion and enthusiasm have been unmatched.”

The servers being shut down comes just a few months after Player First Games itself was also closed. The studio’s closure came alongside the closure of WB Games San Diego, and Monolith, as well as an in-development game based on the Wonder Woman franchise. “This is a strategic change in direction and not a reflection of these teams or the talent within them,” said the company in a statement announcing the studio closures.

While MultiVersus had scene some success back when it originally launched in closed alpha all the way back in 2022, the game lost most of its player base quickly, before the alpha was shut down. It later got a full relaunch in May 2024 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. However, despite the relaunch, the game was never able to get back the traction it had originally built up.

Rumours have indicated that the commercial failure of MultiVersus may have contributed to Warner Bros. Games facing quite a bit of heat in terms of its financial state, leading the company to shut down development on Monolith’s Wonder Woman game. MultiVersus, along with Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had been implicated in this by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier.

“Last year Suicide Squad was a humongous flop – they wrote off $200 million because of that. MultiVersus and Quidditch Champions, also both flops, [they] wrote off another $100 million because of that,” said Schrier, pointing out that WB Games’ forays into live-service games had just not been working out for the company under the leadership of former head David Haddad.

Haddad has since stepped down from his position, being succeeded by JB Perrette, who also serves as the CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery’s global streaming and games division.

Schreier brings up the fact that, among Haddad’s decisions during his tenure include the cancellation of a new IP by Monolith that would have potentially utilize an expanded version of the Nemesis system from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor/War. This decision had led to all directors at the studio resigning, leading to work on the Wonder Woman project starting from scratch.

The Wonder Woman game would have also made use of the Nemesis system before its development was rebooted around a year ago. This time around, it would be a linear action game.

Schreier points out that this decision was too late, and the failure of attempted live-service games with licensed characters, including Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus had already put WB Games in a bit of a hole.

“But by then, it was kind of too late especially because last year was so bad for the Warner Brothers Games organization,” said Schreier. “Last year Suicide Squad was a humongous flop – they wrote off $200 million because of that. MultiVersus and Quidditch Champions, also both flops, [they] wrote off another $100 million because of that.”

Haddad stepped down from his role as president of WB Games earlier this year after having spent 12 years with the company. His successor is JB Perrette, who is also the CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery global streaming and games division.

“David has thoughtfully and purposefully chosen a time when our release schedule is lighter, which will help minimize disruption to our ongoing projects and strategic plans and allow this team to smoothly prepare for its next record-breaking title,” said Perrette about Haddad’s departure.

The closure of Monolith Productions came alongside other studios at WB Games being shut down, including Player First Games and WB Games San Diego. Warner Bros. said that this happened because it had to make “some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around building the best games possible with our key franchises – Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones.”

While things may have been somewhat chaotic behind the scenes, comic writer Gail Simone recently commented on her time working with the studio as a long-term consultant for the Wonder Woman project. In a series of posts on X, Simone praised both the studio, as well as Warner Bros., calling both companies “enthusiastic and supportive.”

“The game was gorgeous and expansive,” wrote Simone. “It was beautiful to look at. I am not going to give details for a number of reasons, but every effort was made to make this not just a great game, but a great WONDER WOMAN game. A showpiece epic.”

“And all of that was because of the team. Everyone who worked on it brought their a-game. Programmers, artists, designers, everyone. I don’t know that I have ever worked with a team that cared more about making sure the end product was perfect.”

The reason behind these closures? Per an email to Kotaku, “We have had to make some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around building the best games possible with our key franchises – Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones.” Closing the aforementioned studios is a “strategic change in direction” and “not a reflection of these teams or the talent that consists within them.” You’ve probably spotted the contradictions already, but we’ll get into it shortly.

Regarding Wonder Woman, the company sought “the highest quality experience possible for the iconic character, and unfortunately, this is no longer possible within our strategic priorities. This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games. We greatly admire the passion of the three teams and thank every employee for their contributions.”

It also said that despite the difficulties of today, you should all rest assured. Warner Bros. will “remain focused on and excited about getting back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans and developed by our world-class studios and getting our Games business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond.” Don’t worry about all those people who lost their jobs, everyone – WB Games is going to get back to profitability. The part about how this doesn’t reflect the teams or the quality of talent feels all the more insulting – like an “It’s not you, it’s us” situation.

You could argue that the closures of Player First Games and WB Games San Diego make sense from a “business perspective.” MultiVersus was a massive flop, contributing to a $100 million loss for Warner Bros, and will be shutting servers off in May with only offline play available afterwards. Meanwhile, WB Games San Diego was established in 2019 to work on free-to-play mobile games and hasn’t really delivered anything.

However, this is all more due to too many of the company’s releases missing the mark, per an alleged memo written by WB’s head of games and streaming, JB Perrette, obtained by Bloomberg. “We need to make some substantial changes to our portfolio/team structure if we are to commit the necessary resources to get back to a ‘fewer but bigger franchises’ strategy.”

While MultiVersus was one of those releases, other significant failures included Quidditch Champions and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The latter is perhaps the most egregious due to debuting universally reviled gameplay in 2023, getting delayed by almost a year, and then still launching to a negative response. It contributed to a $200 million impact on revenue for Warner Bros., and yet, continued to receive support and new content until January 2024.

All of this is seemingly due to the poor decisions made by former WB Games president David Haddad over the years. As Bloomberg reported earlier this month, it was under his leadership that these projects were greenlit. Then there’s the fact that WB Games Montreal was shafted for its Suicide Squad project, and even when reportedly it tried new pitches like Constantine, they were left on read. A Flash video game was the next pitch, but after the film’s flop, this too was scrapped. The frustration of dealing with WB Games allegedly caused many of the Montreal studio’s leadership to depart over the years.

Then there were all the disturbing details about Wonder Woman – how it was reportedly rebooted last year with a budget well $100 million and how the project was failing to “coalesce.” Even the acclaimed Nemesis System, made famous in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and War and never seen ever again, was seemingly pushed aside in favor of a more typical action-adventure experience.

It could be argued that WB Games is doing all this to correct Haddad’s mistakes, especially with how significantly they’ve impacted the company’s 2024 revenue. And yet, the hogwash about focusing on its key franchises – like DC – is all the more baffling since Wonder Woman is a DC property. Perhaps it means the rumored new Batman title from Rocksteady Studios, which won’t be out for years yet.

Then again, closing studios and taking employees off the payroll to later claim those reduced costs as improvements to the bottom line is perhaps the long-term goal. Gotta give those investors and shareholders some pounds of flesh in time for the next quarterly financial results, after all.

However anyone wants to try and justify it, this is such a massive waste of talent. Even if you didn’t like MultiVersus, it clearly had potential and loyal fans at the start, which were slowly squandered due to its live-service aspirations and monetization. Is it a coincidence that this happened in the same year that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the company was placing more emphasis on live-service titles to  “drive engagement and monetization of longer cycles and at higher levels?”

Monolith Productions hurts all the more because of the beloved titles it delivered over more than three decades. Titles like Condemned, Blood, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, Alien vs. Predator 2, and much more remain classics – many remain my favorite titles to date. To see the studio tossed aside because of terrible management, as the higher-ups portend to focusing on “high-quality games” while seemingly preventing the studio from working on anything else, is just sad. If Wonder Woman was cancelled, it wouldn’t have been the most surprising thing, especially if WB Games didn’t want to shoulder further costs. But to do away with the studio as a whole leaves a bad taste.

This could be seen as more layoffs in an industry afflicted with the same since late 2023. Let’s not forget that other big-time publishers like Sony, Microsoft, EA and Take-Two Interactive have gone through layoffs and/or studio closures over that period. Don’t even get me started on the whole mess involving NetEase Games and reports of divesting its many overseas ventures.

However, these are more tragedies stemming from the many questionable decisions made by Warner Bros. Discovery over the past several years. Even as the company prepares for the next Hogwarts Legacy (with the first game reportedly receiving new content) and whatever Rocksteady cooks up, it’s difficult to really get excited.

Who else will be next on the chopping block? What other projects will suddenly get the rug pulled out because they suffered from prior mismanagement? Regardless of whether things improve or not, it’s the developers suffering at the end of the day, regardless of their past successes or loyalty, even in the face of executive bumbling.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Players with Gleamium and character tokens can still use them until May 30th. Unfortunately, at 9 AM PST on the same day, servers will go offline and the game will be delisted from all storefronts. However, it will remain playable offline with local play for up to four players and battles against the AI.

You’ll need to download the latest update (aka Season 5) from February 4th to May 30th and create a local save file. All content, including paid items, will thus remain available offline going forward.

MultiVersus is available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. It launched as an open beta in 2022 before being taken offline in 2023 and re-launched in 2024. However, it faced criticism from various changes – check out our review for more details.

Star Wars Outlaws

As iffy as certain things looked before launch, there was still some hope for Star Wars Outlaws from Massive Entertainment’s involvement alone. The Reputation and Wanted system, more organic exploration, and focus on single-player were all the right moves, but it didn’t land for consumers. Those who took the plunge suffered numerous bugs and issues with movement, combat, AI, stealth, and so on. It’s a better game now, but Outlaws still needs work.

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League

Even with successes like Helldivers 2, this year just wasn’t it for live-service titles. However, the negative response to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League began well prior, with many criticizing the looter shooter’s format. The release sadly did nothing to rise to the occasion, featuring a horrendous story that falls off a cliff, insufferable characters, and the same dreary games-as-a-service mission structure seen hundreds of times before. With a $200 million impact on Warner Bros. Discovery’s revenue, Suicide Squad clearly didn’t meet expectations.

Skull and Bones

Alleged reboots, high-profile departures, constant delays, and a ballooning budget – Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones had all the key ingredients for a potential disaster. Adding in all the live-service staples like seasons, always-online gameplay, a focus on multiplayer, and whatnot hastened the game’s doom (calling it a quadruple-A title also didn’t help). With player numbers reportedly coming in at less than a million around launch, it was a failure before it even got started.

Planet Coaster 2

Incredible visuals and the studio’s penchant for attention to detail did little to make a difference for Planet Coaster 2, which is, by all accounts, a hotly awaited sequel, that much more palatable. The awful UI, pathing issues, lackluster pools, awful characters and various bugs were just too significant to ignore, even with the better campaign. Frontier has rolled out improvements, and it will likely excel in the long run, but for now, Planet Coaster 2 is an underwhelming ride.

Farming Simulator 25

After the failure of Farming Simulator 23 (at least on Nintendo Switch), Farming Simulator 25 marked a return for the franchise to consoles and PC. It shipped with extensive bugs, an annoying user interface, jarring physics, and multitudes of other issues that remain. That’s on top of the unoptimized performance on PC, which hinders the otherwise strong environmental effects and textures. Mods will likely make it a better experience over time but at this point, fans would appreciate a strong title out of the gate (which certainly applies to our next choice).

Starfield: Shattered Space

Starfield had its share of mixed impressions after launching last year and Shattered Space seemed like the perfect opportunity to address many issues while offering a fresh slate. However, the hand-crafted planet of Var’uun’kai delivered the most rudimentary content and barren surroundings to go with lackluster characters and story-telling. Even the intriguing gravity anomalies barely appear after a point.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead

I was excited about Stormind Games’ first-person horror, especially with how it leveraged the films and their mechanics. Unfortunately, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is a hugely linear, highly scripted experience with bizarre AI, questionable design decisions, and a predictable story that fails to really leverage its endearing characters.

Concord

Sony’s biggest first-party failure in years, Concord was seemingly doomed from its first proper reveal, especially when the hero shooter elements became apparent. After a beta with abysmal numbers, it would launch to middling reviews and reportedly sold only 25,000 copies. Sony initially pulled the title from sale and shut down servers before eventually shuttering it and Firewalk Studio.

Rise of the Ronin

Director Fumihiko Yasuda revealed around June that Rise of the Ronin was Koei Tecmo’s best-selling game so far, with the publisher even reporting higher sales than Nioh. That’s all great, but the game itself fell short of what we expected in terms of open-world activities and storytelling. At least the combat remains enjoyable, and Team Ninja has provided some extensive post-launch content for free.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The first Dragon Age title in ten years was bound to have astronomical expectations, especially with all the rumors and reports of reboots. Combat was sharp despite pivoting to a real-time hack-and-slash approach and the environments are gorgeous, without a doubt. It’s everything else that either whelmed or disappointed, from the uneven characterization and writing to the mission structure. Though it wasn’t BioWare’s worst, it’s far from being its best.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Significant improvements over last year’s game don’t excuse Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 from disappointing in other ways. Despite a superior campaign, its story ultimately felt flat (and continued the same cliffhanger approach), while multiplayer fell short with its map design. Zombies is surprisingly good despite some balance issues, and while the overall experience classifies as “good,” it’s nowhere near the series’ heights.

Unknown 9: Awakening

There’s always some skepticism when a developer gets ahead itself and plans out an entire universe for its IP before the first game even launches. Unfortunately, Unknown 9: Awakening loaded its bland premise with dull writing and boring combat, while various bugs and performance issues weighed even heavier. Suffice it to say that with an all-time peak concurrent player count of 285 on Steam at launch, Unknown 9: Awakening failed to meet any expectations heaped on it.

MultiVersus

From promising platform fighter to being pulled and relaunching earlier this year in a worse form, MultiVersus has had quite the journey. It’s hard to pinpoint all the issues, be it the sheer lack of quality-of-life features at launch or how underwhelming Rifts felt after they finally went live, but above all else, the feel and fluidity from the open beta felt like it was missing. And unfortunately, Player First Games hasn’t been able to capture the magic ever since.

XDefiant

Initially revealed as part of the Tom Clancy series, XDefiant would become a standalone entity while still crossing over with the publisher’s various other titles. However, despite some responsive shooting, it couldn’t match the features and content of other free-to-play shooters at launch. Various issues like network performance also affected it, causing a sharp downturn. Maybe there’s still time to right the ship, but based on the company’s other live-service endeavors, XDefiant’s days could be numbered.

Outcast: A New Beginning

Developing a sequel to a niche title from the late 90s is unusual on its own, but perhaps Outcast: The New Beginning could cater to long-time fans. What it offered was a massive world with nothing exciting, loading up players with menial tasks and awful writing. Appealing as it may be for those seeking more old-school-style titles, A New Beginning felt more like an awkward continuation for a cult-classic series.

As reported by IGN, during the company’s recent quarterly earnings call, it was revealed that MultiVersus has not only underperformed, it has underperformed so poorly that it has contributed to an additional $100 million loss for WB Games, adding to the heavy losses the company had already incurred earlier in the year due to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

“We recognise [the games business] is substantially underperforming its potential right now,” said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels added, “We took another $100 million plus impairment due to the underperforming releases, primarily MultiVersus this quarter, bringing total writedown year-to-date to over $300 million in our games business, a key factor in this year’s studio profit decline.”

Following its heavy losses, WB Games will double down on four core franchises in the form of Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Batman, and Game of Thrones. Read more on that through here.

MultiVersus is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Read our review of the game through here. Shortly after the game’s launch, it was announced in July that developer Player First Games had been acquired by WB Games.

Nubia, Queen of the Amazons, and steadfast ally of Wonder Woman herself, will be joining her fellow Amazonian warrior in MultiVersus tomorrow, on Octoebr 15, as part of another free updated. Armed with a spear, she’s effective at both close-range and long-range melee attacks, while also being particularly nimble and agile with her movements, which will likely make her a popular choice for many. Check out the gameplay trailer below for a glimpse of what she will bring to the table. 

MultiVersus is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. 

A new trailer showcases the trio in action, offering glimpses of how they will function in battles together, some of the attacks and special abilities they will have at their disposal, and more. Players can also look forward to Townsville making its way into the game, not to mention different variants for The Powerpuff Girls, some of which can be spotted in the trailer. Check it out below. 

Later in Season 3, MultiVersus will also add the DC character Nubia, Queen of the Amazons. Previously, MultiVersus adding Beetlejuice in August, and prior to that, Samurai Jack and Agent Smith in July. 

MultiVersus is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Publisher WB Games acquired developer Player First Games not long after release.

With a new trailer, WB Games has revealed that Beetlejuice will be added to MultiVersus next week, on August 20. Unsurprisingly, his moveset will see him using his creepy shapeshifting powers, in addition to being able to summon plenty of creepy-crawlies for aid. Other variants of the character will, of course, also be available. Check out the trailer for a glimpse of what Bettlejuice will bring to the table. 

MultiVersus is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Developer Player First Games was recently acquired by publisher WB Games, further cementing their partnership. Read more on that through here.

Player First Games was established in 2019 in Los Angeles by co-founders studio head Tony Huynh and head of technology Chris White, both of whom will remain in charge of the studio following its acquisition, except now they will report directly to Carlos Barbosa, who is vice president and studio head of Warner Bros. Games San Diego.

“Our team is excited to join the Warner Bros. Games family, and we feel that this will be great for MultiVersus overall,” said Huynh. “We are working to make the MultiVersus game experience the best it can be and having our development team integrated with the publisher is optimum for the players.”

“We have worked with Player First Games over several years to create and launch MultiVersus, and we are very pleased to welcome this talented team to Warner Bros. Games,” said WB Games president David Haddad. “The bright and creative team at Player First Games adds to our extensive development capabilities.”

After entering an extended beta in 2022, MultiVersus launched in full earlier this year with an upgraded engine and overhauled gameplay. Read our review of the game through here.

On July 23, MultiVersus will be adding Samurai Jack to its roster of playable fighters, with Beetlejuice coming later.

MultiVersus is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.