Highlights

  • MultiVersus is set to return on May 28, 2024, with updated visuals, fighting mechanics, and engine improvements.
  • The game's comeback comes at a perfect time, following a wave of successful fighting game releases in 2023.
  • With little competition in its release window, MultiVersus aims to capture the attention of fighting game fans with its unique roster and gameplay.

Announced all the way back in November 2021, MultiVersus would first land in players' hands in July 2022. Officially just an early access period, MultiVersus continued to run for almost an entire year, delivering two major seasons of content updates that added characters from Gremlins, Rick and Morty, and Black Adam, all of whom joined the already-packed roster of Warner Bros. characters. After shutting down in June 2023, many fans were left wondering when exactly MultiVersus would return, and now, nine months later, they have finally been given an official answer.

Announced on March 11, MultiVersus will return to PC and consoles on May 28, 2024. Releasing fully, this new version of MultiVersus will contain much of the same content and gameplay of its early access version, but with a few key improvements and changes, such as an updated engine, refined visuals, and tweaked fighting mechanics. Though its success is far from guaranteed, MultiVersus' return has been very well-timed, putting it in a pretty great spot right off the bat.

Super Smash Bros. 6 Might Want to Go for a Walk in MultiVersus' Shoes
Related
Super Smash Bros. 6 Might Want to Go for a Walk in MultiVersus' Shoes

For as much as MultiVersus owes to Super Smash Bros., a new Smash would benefit from trying its own take on the former's style of fighting.

MultiVersus' Return Has Been Well-Timed

MultiVerus Is The Next in a Long Line of Great Fighting Games

The last year has essentially ushered in a new golden age for the fighting video game genre. While fighting games have remained popular for over four decades now, great entries are usually few and far between, but that wasn't the case in 2023. After seven years, Street Fighter returned in 2023 with perhaps its greatest entry to date, with Street Fighter 6 delivering some of the franchise's most satisfying combat mechanics and breathtaking visuals.

Just a few months later, Mortal Kombat 1 set out to deliver a similar experience for its own franchise, and while some fans are a little mixed about the end results, it still received a pretty great reception overall. And then, to round out the year, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 released in November 2023, and to the surprise of many, it actually ended up being a great platform fighter, improving upon its predecessor in every way.

But while 2023 may have been the best year for fighting games in a long time, the genre's newfound golden age seems to be far from over. Back in January, the long-awaited Tekken 8 released, and much like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat before it, Tekken 8 became a major critical hit, with a current Metacritic score of 90. With a release date of May 2024, it's now up to MultiVersus to keep this golden age for fighting games going, which puts a lot of pressure on the game's shoulders, though it also means that more eyes are on the genre - and by extension MultiVersus - than ever before.

MultiVersus Has The Rest of The Year to Itself

While Tekken 8 is still fairly fresh on the minds of fighting game fans, and both Mortal Kombat 1 and Street Fighter 6 are continuing to release DLC fighters over the next few months, when it comes to major new fighting game releases, MultiVersus essentially has the year all to itself. In theory, MultiVersus should be dropping at an ideal time, being able to deliver a fresh fighting game experience right as fans are beginning to want one, with its May release date being just far enough away from Tekken 8 and the rest of its competition, while still being close enough to benefit from their shared popularity.