Warner Bros. Games is making its continued collaboration with MultiVersus developer Player First Games official, announcing that it’s acquired the studio for an undisclosed sum on Monday.
The two companies have been working together on the live-service Warner Bros.-inspired Smash Bros. competitor alongside Warner Bros. Games San Diego, which is providing production support. The game just relaunched in May after going offline following its open beta period in 2022.
“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,” says Warner Bros. Games President David Haddad in a press release.
The move will allow the two studios to work closely together, but it’s also a symbol of how much Warner Bros. is investing in MultiVersus.
“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,” Player First co-founder Tony Huynh says.
Warner Bros. has made its love of MultiVersus and live-service games in general clear to investors. Earlier this year, the company’s president of streaming and games J.B. Perrette said that it would be focusing on video games related to established IP, like Hogwarts Legacy, live-service titles like MultiVersus, and free-to-play offerings. This was after the multiplayer live-service Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League flopped.
And MultiVersus is not only live-service and free-to-play but can potentially support every IP in Warner Bros.’ giant library.
And the company is still continuously updating the game post relaunch. It was just announced at Evo 2024 that Samurai Jack and Beetlejuice are coming to the game in Season 2. Ranked mode is also set to arrive when the season starts on Tuesday. At the time of this writing, there are 27 playable characters from across the Warner Bros. brands, including everything from Jake the Dog and Finn the Human from Adventure Time to LeBron James. Season 1 added Agent Smith from the Matrix films and Jason from Friday the 13th.