Brawler MultiVersus, the PS5 and PS4 mascot, is entirely reinventing its monetization strategy

When MultiVersus first went live in beta last year, it was very popular, but we really feel that its lackluster Battle Pass contributed to its demise. The player count for the mascot brawler fell off after it had one of the least thrilling seasons we’ve ever seen in a live service game. Fortunately, developer Player First Games has been busy getting the game ready for its big re-launch on May 28.

First off, the Battle Pass is getting a complete makeover. If you participated in the open beta, you will have free access to the first season as long as you log in before June 11th. Jason Voorhees, the villain from Friday the 13th, was recently revealed to be the first reward of the new Battle Pass. If you log in before the specified date, you can add Jason to your roster for free.

A Rising Stars ring-out, a Banana Guard announcer pack, and a commemorative Snow Suit Finn costume are also being given to returning players. Not only that, but finishing the updated tutorial will start a seven-day reward calendar that ends with a free Banana Guard unlock. Additionally, the Lady Banana Guard costume is yours.

Returning to the Battle Pass, the developer claims that in addition to improving the quality of the rewards, you will also accumulate enough Gleamium at the end of each season to buy the next one. This implies that if you finish all of your goals, you’ll only have to pay for one Battle Pass and will be able to access all future ones for free. This is a pretty common feature in games like Fortnite.

Character and Battle Pass tokens that were purchased in Founder’s Packs for MultiVersus last year are probably still usable in their inventory. However, as it updates its currencies and overall monetization, the developer won’t be selling any more of these. Thus, the following four currencies will now be available in the game:

Fighter in-game currency is needed to unlock new characters.
Awarded in-game and used to get additional perks.
Prestige Used to unlock rare items, prestige is earned by acquiring cosmetics.
gleamium earned in-game and bought with real money to gain access to cosmetics, battle passes, and additional items

In a surprising move, the developers have decided to remove the gold currency from the game. This decision means that any gold you have accumulated will now be converted into exclusive commemorative cosmetics. It’s a significant change that will surely have an impact on the game’s economy and the way players interact with it. With all these changes, it appears that there will be numerous opportunities to acquire items through gameplay. The only currency that might involve real-money transactions is gleamium.

Clearly, in order to sustain its development, Player First Games must generate some form of revenue for this free-to-play live service. We’ll have to wait for the final release to assess the fairness of the payouts and the rate at which the Battle Pass progresses. However, it appears that the developers have taken valuable lessons from the beta and made significant improvements. As a result, we are optimistic about these enhancements.