MultiVersus developer Player First Games has outlined new plans for the game’s launch, including premium battle pass content, and revealed how monetization will work.
Warner Bros.’ Brawler in the style of Smash Bros. will launch for good on May 28 after being taken offline following what is now being called an open beta period.
In a blog post, Player First Games stated that returning players who log in by June 11th will receive a free Season 1 Premium Battle Pass. This means they also get a playable Friday the 13th Jason Voorhees figure for free.
Player First Games has revealed a first look at the Battle Pass interface, which exudes strong Fortnite vibes. “We’ve increased the number of high-value items in both the free and premium tiers by adding more ringtones, character variants, taunts and currency,” Player First Games said.
At both levels, you can now earn premium currency (Gleamium) which can be used to purchase various in-game items, whether it’s new characters or saving to use for next season’s premium battle pass.
Jason Voorhees is included in the premium battle pass, as well as more variants, ringouts, taunts and currency. The Premium Battle Pass will also allow you to earn enough Gleamia to get another Premium Battle Pass, Player First Games confirmed. After the pass ends, Jason Voorhees will also be available via character tokens or in-game currency.
At launch, the Season 1 Battle Pass will last eight weeks, and the last level of the pass will be replayable, so you can keep playing and earning rewards even if you reach the end early.
Returning players who already have existing character tokens in their inventory can still use them to unlock characters, but MultiVersus will not offer new character tokens from launch. It won’t offer new Battle Pass tokens either, but if you already have some, you can still use them to unlock the premium tier of Battle Passes.
Player First Games introduced new surrogate currencies “to focus more on specific reward types”. Fighter currency can be earned in-game and used to acquire fighters. “Keep in mind that fighter currency is different from character tokens and cannot be exchanged for character tokens,” Player First Games warned. Players can also try out new characters through a weekly free character rotation that will work just like during the open beta.
Meanwhile, there is a separate perk currency that you can use to get benefits. And there’s a Prestige currency that “rewards players for all the items and cosmetics they collect for their favorite fighters.” Each cosmetic item you acquire is valued at its own Prestige currency value based on type and rarity. Finally, you use your Prestige currency to unlock Prestige cosmetics, which are the rarest cosmetics in the game, Player First Games explained. These items can only be unlocked using Prestige currency.
“When we launch, all returning players will receive an allotment of Prestige currency based on the number of cosmetics they earned during the open beta as a reward for all previous purchases and unlocks,” the developer added.
That’s four separate virtual currencies for free-to-play brawlers. It’s all a bit confusing, so hopefully the image below will add some clarity:
The previously available Gold currency is no more. Player First Games stated that it will offer commemorative cosmetics that correlate with the player’s gold earned during the open beta. These are exclusive items that cannot be obtained in any other way.
Finally, Player First Games is resetting all benefits from the open beta. As mentioned, perks are now unlocked using the Perk currency that can be earned by playing the game, and all players will receive an allotment that correlates to the number of perks unlocked from the open beta. Player and account control tracks will be set to the first level at startup. “Champions are a great way to give you both short and long term goals when you’re starting out, and ultimately we want to give all players a chance to earn a lot of items,” said Player First Games.
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. revealed two new playable characters for MultiVersus: the aforementioned Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and Agent Smith from The Matrix. Jason Voorhees and Agent Smith join the MultiVersus roster alongside DC Super-Villain The Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) as part of Season 1: Puns & Villainy. Jason Voorhees is available at launch, while Agent Smith will be released later in the season.
Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be contacted at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.