WB’s Smash Bros.-style fighter Multiversus is launching in May

After almost a year hiatus, Multiversus is back.

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By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

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Warner Bros. Games has announced a release date for Multiversus, its Smash Bros.-style fighter starring characters from all over the WB universe. Multiversus will launch as a free-to-play game on May 28th.

There seemed to be hints that some news from the fighting game would be coming soon. Last week, the game’s X account tweeted for the first time after more than a six months of quiet.

Last year, Multiversus underwent an open beta that lasted more than a year before shutting down on June 25th. Though the game was no longer widely available, those who downloaded the game before it was removed from storefronts were still available to play offline in the practice room and local co-op. With the launch date announcement, Warner Bros. is sharing all the new stuff the developers at Player First Games have added in the downtime. In addition to co-op and competitive modes, Multiversus will add a PvE campaign and new, as yet unannounced heroes.

Warner Bros.’ games division seems to be undergoing a bit of an identity crisis. It’s pulling games published under it’s Adult Swim Games label with seemingly little recourse for affected developers. After releasing Hogwarts Legacy, the highest-selling game of last year, and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, a live-service game that’s taking a beating both in reviews and in business expectations, Warner Bros. has decided to double its focus on… the live-service games.

“Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live service, where people can come in and live and work and build and play in that world on an ongoing basis?” said Warner Bros. executive JB Perrette at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom conference. Though there has been a lot of live-service fatigue lately — Square Enix’s Foamstars launched to little attention preceded by a host of live service game shutdowns — games like Helldivers 2 have been able to punch through the noise to critical success. Multiversus itself seemed to be well received in its open beta period and even had a decently hype Evo exhibition in 2022.

Multiversus launches on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on May 28th.

This post was originally published on The Verge