Amid its push toward mobile and free-to-play titles and away from the “volatile” AAA space, Warner Bros. has announced the acquisition of MultiVersus developer Player First Games.
MultiVersus – which has had an unusual, sometimes controversial development journey since the start of its open beta back in 2022 – is Player First Games’ debut title. It finally got its full free-to-play release this May after disappearing for over a year, and while its current player numbers don’t appear to be anywhere near those seen during the height of its open beta popularity, Warner Bros. is clearly happy enough to acquire the studio behind it.
Full details of the purchase haven’t been disclosed, but Warner Bros. confirmed (via IGN) Player First Games’ co-founders Tony Huynh and Chris White will continue to lead the studio.
“Our team is excited to join the Warner Bros. Games family, and we feel that this will be great for MultiVersus overall,” Huynh said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “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.”
Warner Bros’ latest acquisition follows the company’s announcement back in March that it would be shifting its focus to mobile, free-to-play, and live-service titles to combat what it called the “volatile” AAA market. That came after February’s admission the publisher was bracing for a “tough year”, after it revealed sales of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had failed to meet its expectations.
Despite Warner Bros’ shift in strategy, reports surfaced last week that it had laid off the entire mobile team at Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm. And while neither the studio or publisher has publicly acknowledged the job cuts, NetherRealm has now confirmed its free-to-play live service mobile game Mortal Kombat: Onslaught will be shutting down.
News of Warner Bros’ Player First Games acquisition came ahead of MultiVersus’ second season, which launches today and introduces a ranked mode, plus new fighters Samurai Jack and Beetlejuice. They join a sizeable roster of other playable characters from Warner Bros’ library, including Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Superman, Joker, Gremlins’ Gizmo, The Matrix’s Agent Smith, Jason Vorhees, and Game of Thrones’ Arya Stark.
