Earlier this month WB Games surprised everyone that it would be pulling MultiVersus from online storefronts, declaring the previous release of the game a "beta," and the game would not return until some time in 2024. The studio did confirm in a statement that the 2024 release would honor and maintain any progress and in-game purchases:

“All progress and previously earned or purchased content will carry over when MultiVersus returns in early 2024,” Warner said. “This includes unused Gleamium, Battle Pass tokens, character tickets and any other in-game items – all content will carry over to the game next year.

“This announcement does not change any current refund policies or terms offered by the storefront(s) from which Founder’s Packs or Gleamium bundles were purchased… Additionally, refunds are not available as a result of the Open Beta closure.”

This week marked the first phase of Warner Bros.' phase out of the open beta in which they pulled the game from any future or new downloads. The only people able to play the game until June 25th, the date when the online servers will be shut down until the game's full release, are those that have already downloaded the game.

Fans and followers of the game are still shocked by this turn of events. Many have noted the lack of valuable content updates and others openly criticized WB calling the current version of the game an "open beta" considering it was already taking in-game purchases in the form of microtransactions, season passes, and other in-game currencies. Some of the game's more active players have already invested upwards of hundreds of dollars, and it's an odd turn of events consider how much money WB spent to have the game take up convention space at events like EVO or PAX.

Do you think the game is all set up for an even bigger disappointing direction? Do you agree with WB's idea that the current game amounted to an open beta? Honestly, I think anyone who spent money on this game is bound to get screwed by power creep or balance changes that render any and all previous investments into it irrelevant. That said, that is an all too common issue with any always online or season pass-focused video game.

I always thought it was weird how long the language of "beta" or "early-access" stuck around on the title screen, I guess it was all leading to this.

That game's had a really, REALLY strange story and a very weird arc, but it's biggest flaw was the uncertainty of just what it was trying to be or do.

Was it an ultra-casual party game for the younger set with wacky fun characters and mixups or was it a serious answer to the Smash Bros Competitive problem, actually setting up a game with balanced characters and critical roles?

Either way: it was updated both far too slowly and chaotically to be either. Though it was real damn fun when everything was working right.

Y'all gotta stop falling into the trap of buying into these shitty Smash clones. First the Nickelodeon game, now this. A dozen before that. You keep giving them your money, they're gonna take it. Not as cynically as this one, maybe, but definitely taking all they can get away with.

But you know, people who bought the game will still keep their stuff, so it's more of a break, which CAN be good. Games have revivals sometimes. That is a long waiting period though. They're clearly doing it so they can strike lightning twice, but it makes this in-between period feel hella awkward.

The only thing I'll miss about Multiversus is having the Game of Thrones girl beat up the dog from Adventure Time or, for some reason, Lebron James. Truly the most unhinged roster ever.

You also forgot that one of Arya Stark's moves is to pull a meat pie out of thin air that heals her or her allies. This is a reference to when she murdered a man's sons and fed them to him, without him knowing, in the form of a meat pie.

@zombiepie: Lol I forgot about that GoT fact and never put it together with her move in the game. I barely touched it but I did watch people play it a few times.

@zombiepie: I've never actually seen Game of Thrones, so that being the reference is very fittingly batshit.

I wonder at what stage they even planned to pull the game from the stores because going in to the beta their creative team indicated the beta was more of a soft launch, hoping to roll it into a full release after a couple of preseasons.

I think the biggest problem with the game might have been the surprisingly limited roster despite what they promised or insinuated early on, especially with the roster leaks of bigger IPs. Instead we got Rick and Morty, a couple Gremlins, and then Marvin the Martian. It didn't help that the creative director Tony Hyunh would retweet any and all fan suggestions for characters, and I think not including any of those suggestions immediately soured a lot of different fanbases all at once.