Summary
MultiVersusis chock-full ofWarner Bros.characters, ranging from the likes of Tom & Jerry tothe newly announced Samurai Jack and Beetlejuice, which makes it rather surprising that the publisher didn’t actually own the game’s developer, Player First Games. It’s obviously a title that Warner Bros. owns, given its entire roster is made up of their characters, but the company has now decided to acquire Player First itself and make the developer its second fighting game studio next to NetherRealm.
Announced first viaBusiness Wire, Warner Bros. Games has acquired Player First for an undisclosed fee, and that the studio will continue to operate under current head Tony Huynh and head of technology Chris White. However, the duo will now report to Carlos Barbosa, the vice president and studio head of Warner Bros. Games San Diego.
Speaking on the acquisition, Huynh feels that officially joining Warner Bros. will “be great for MultiVersus overall,” and that “having our development team integrated with the publisher is optimum for the players.” He doesn’t go into the specifics of how exactly this is going t benefit Player First, but having an easier line of communication with the publisher that makes up your entire fighting game’s roster is only a good thing really.
How Will Warner Bros. Acquiring Player First Effect MultiVersus?
Of course, this is just a lot of red tape for the standard fan, and it’s kind of surprising Warner Bros. doesn’t own Player First already. The real question is how this acquisition is going to affect the game itself, and it doesn’t seem like there should be that many downsides. There’s some speculation that this could potentially ruin any chances for third-party character inclusions in the future - such as the highly-requested Walter White - but people have pointed out that NetherRealm is going ham with guest characters in Mortal Kombat 1 at the moment.
Even then, it’s not like MultiVersus is lacking characters to pick from, with Samurai Jack, Beetlejuice,and more coming in Season 2. This acquisition will likely just make communication easier and lessen the amount of red tape Player First needs to get through to add characters, though it is slightly concerning that Player First is now beholden to the demands of Warner,especially with the industry’s obsession with layoffs recently.
Over 10,000 people have already been laid off from the games industry this year, with over 20,000 having been laid off since the start of 2023.
Hopefully, this is a smooth transition, and Player First is given the resources from Warner Bros. to make MultiVersus a success for the long term. After a rocky launch, the game has been taking steps in the right direction, so let’s hop Huynh and his team can keep things up.
