168澳洲幸运5开奖网:MultiVersus is one of the most notable victims of the varying ways games measure success these days. It was popular when it released in early access in June 2022, and was praised for its recreation of classic 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Warner Bros. characters, developing a cult community. Though early access reviews are tricky, it currently sits at an impressive-enough 80 on Metacritic. People liked it, people bought it, and people played it. That wasn't enough the first time around. Will things be any different now?

Unlike 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Smash Bros., the game MultiVersus is clearly aping, the goal is not to have a lot of people buy the game and then like it enough to buy the sequel a few years later. The goal of MultiVersus is to have people constantly playing. Any time they're playing another game, any time they're sleeping, any time they're making human contact in the real world, MultiVersus is losing. This is not a sensible way to measure how successful a game is. But it is a surprisingly common one.

The Rise And Fall (And Rise?) Of MultiVersus

MultiVersus’ early access period included seasonal challenges (complete with season passes), several new characters, and a lot of premium currency. The theory was more content would be added gradually, and eventually, early access would morph into a full release without too much disruption. Like my theory that I had time for three more games of Balatro before we had to drive to my mother-in-law's, it was swiftly proven incorrect.

Updates slowed down as developers Player First Game𓃲s tried to💮 find some rhythm rather than releasing too much too early. Internal set-backs led to longer and longer delays, and after going four months without a new character, MultiVersus was pulled. With few players sticking around, it was deemed more cost effective to remove the game from storefronts entirely, switch off the servers, while work was done to get it ready to re-release.

You can see why this happened - since not many people were playing, it makes sense to rebuild completely to get the best game possible, and that meant gradual updates weren't going to cut it. On the other hand, it 168澳洲幸运5开奖🐼网:cost up to $99.𓂃99 to buy the Deluxe Edition (with Standard costing a still significant $39.99, though without any add-ons it was available free-to-play), and making someone pay for a game then taking it away in March 2023 with the vague date that it will be back in "early 2024" isn't going to endear you to an audience already drifting away.

MultiVersus has recently revealed that it will relaunch on🍨 May 28, which isn't really "early" 2024 now, is it? But games are difficult to make and if it needs to be kicked back a couple of months internally, I don't think there's much reason to complain. Of course, there's still the fact it left people who shelled out $100 (and that's without any premium purchases) with nothing to show for it for 15 months. More reason to complain there, I think.

MultiVersus Strikes Back

Some of the noises coming out of the MultiVersus camp are positive. Gleamium, one of the premium currencies, used to only be available to be bought directly but 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:can now be earned in the game itself. Mild dystopian vibes aside, it is good news that you can earn fake money now instead of buying it with real money. The graphics were also notably upgraded, while players were promised new modes and new characters. MultiVersus taking this long off to get these additions cooked up has some fans excited, but this excitement is derived primarily from copium - not a single mod𝓡e or character was mentioned in the comeback trailer, and that's making some fans reluctant to celebrate.

This is the problem with the eternal game. If we were expected to buy MultiVersus in exchange for money, they'd say, 'here are all the reasons to give us money!', but they don't want that. It's great for them if you buy the $99.99 Deluxe Edition, of course, but the aim of the game is whales who spend that and more in the stores each month. You can't tell them ahead of time what will be there, because then they'll think strategically and save up for ones they really want. If it's a new reveal each time, that FOMO centre of the brain floods with endorphins, and they gotta have it now now now.

MultiVersus needs a passionate group of fans who will play constantly, even if they never spend a dime, because having an active community (and therefore people for the cash-splashing whales to show off to) is a crucial part of the live-service environment. But it also needs constant and steady revenue streams, which means even when the game is ready, it's never really ready. There's always a new event, new mode, new character, new something to keep players playing forever.

MultiVersus has done the hard part - people love this game. They love it enough to care about it when it does things they don't like rather than shrugging and moving on to the next title in the never-ending conveyor belt of video games. In the good old days, that would have been enough. It would have been loved enough to get a sequel, and then another, and then the devs would have moved on to something else that people would have loved.

That's a rose-tinted view of things, but it could have been true. That's exactly what happened with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crash Bandicoot, and that 'something else' was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Jak & Daxter, then 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Uncharted, then 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Last of Us. Now 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crash is stuck in live-service hell himself until the dev🍌s hauled themsﷺelves out while the mascot was left to rot. It's not MultiVersus' fault the industry is this way, and it's by no means the worst offender. But seeing the hype go up and down so often with all the battle pass planning, it hurts to realise that a game can be beloved, critically acclaimed, and popular, and still not be a ‘success’ in our modern day view of the word.