Warner Bros. MultiVersus is in the news, more often than not, for all the wrong reasons. It seems every major company at some point tries to capture the lightning in the bottle that is the Super Smash Bros. franchise, but none can quite replicate the same feeling of Nintendo’s beloved arena fighter.
MultiVersus is free-to-play, but there are several issues in the game, with one of the major gripes being the progression towards unlocking characters in the fighter roster. This feature is annoying fans of the latest arena fighter, who claim it requires an unthinkable investment of time and effort.
How Much XP To Unlock 1 Character in MultiVersus?
Free-to-play titles across genres trade money for time. Instead of taking a down payment upfront by way of a price tag, these kinds of games require players to invest a lot of time and effort (sometimes money too via microtransactions) to get to the really good stuff. While some games are more egregious than others in this regard, MultiVersus is being called out for what it demands from the player.
It takes 38+ hours of PvP gameplay to unlock a single new character in Multiversus, past the first ones.
— WhyDo (@WDBTHtGP) May 30, 2024
After ~100 minutes of 2v2s, I gained 130 fighter currency. That's 78/hr. Most fighters cost 3,000.
At 6k, the Joker would take me 77 HOURS to unlock.
Stop defending this. https://t.co/2X7ec8BYOe pic.twitter.com/amf1QgP13h
Typical of the internet, someone did the math on how long it would take to unlock characters in the game beyond the first one. @WDBTHtGP states that to get more characters, players would need to invest over 38 hours into the PvP mode of the game.
They state that after 100 minutes of 2v2 games, they were able to accrue 130 fighter currency, which clocks in at around 78 per hour. With most new fighters costing upwards of 3,000, this entails a lot of time and a lot of fighting in the game to unlock the character that you wish to play. The other option is to pay to unlock all of the characters, a move that is being called out by the community.
Considering the Joker costs 6,000 fighter currency, this character would require 70+ hours of gameplay to unlock organically. The slow progression is a tactical move by Warner Bros., hoping people will take the microtransaction route to save time.
MultiVersus Offers Initial Boost But Has a Steep Subsequent Drop-Off
The user who did this math regarding character progression also clarified a few things in follow-up tweets. They state that the game does give an initial large currency boost, but collecting the same later on becomes a hassle. Considering the game has removed some beloved features that were present in the beta, moves like these aren’t winning over the community.
@WDBTHtGP asks the community to stop defending this tactic, claiming that they do enjoy the game and wish to see it do better. Responses to the investment breakdown range from agreement to pushing back against the claims. One reply agrees with the motive behind the move being increasing monetization avenues.
This is what people don’t seem to understand. Games that have an in-game currency system and monetization will ALWAYS be geared towards making you want to skip investing more time into getting what you want and just paying for it. It’s literally what mobile games do. Yes, you can…
— Caramel Kaiteki🍮 | Edgerunner (@CaramelKaiteki) May 31, 2024
Other replies state they have been able to unlock characters easily and were not required to invest the projected time. The user does clarify in a comment that the currency collection tapers off steeply, but that hasn’t stopped the conversation from spiraling into a debate.
Bro I made 6k in less than 24 hours of gameplay, 1 you are doing pvp when rift is where it is at. 2 proof of you playing 38 hours on day 3? LOL. 3 Y’all just can’t cope. Old multi took my 250 hours to unlock all characters when you can do it even quicker now. #multiversus
— HouseArrest (@HouseArrestFGC) May 30, 2024
Do you think free-to-play games are justified in taking this route to push monetization? Let us know in the comments below!
