Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
UPDATE: On the 30th of September 2024, new information was added to the end of this post regarding Season 3’s performance and top streamers on live streaming.
Warner Bros. has a massive backlog of premium IPs to draw upon when it comes to publishing games under their WB Games division. Last year, Hogwarts Legacy leveraged the world of Harry Potter to create a smash hit on live-streaming platforms. But while the community reveled in this opportunity to dive into the Wizarding World, WB Games set a high bar for themselves with upcoming projects.
MultiVersus is one such IP-backed game: A platform fighter in the vein of Smash Bros. and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale featuring a crossover of characters from every Warner Bros. IP. While the game originally launched back in beta in July of 2022, MultiVersus then went dormant in the lead-up to its proper full release on the 28th of May 2024. As developer Player First Games guides MultiVersus into Season 3, the game sets out to prove that it has legs to become a popular live service game.
In this article, we’re looking at MultiVersus’ performance since its full release, including the top streamers and the hype for new characters leading into Season 3.
MultiVersus Has A Strong Full Release, Living Up to its Beta Performance
Upon its release earlier this year, MultiVersus paid off the anticipation that had built since its beta closed back in 2022. In its first full week of release, MultiVersus has generated 3.1M hours watched with a peak viewership of 109K. Crucially as well, plenty of streamers were eager to give the game a go with a combined airtime of 173K hours. It’s clear that WB Game’s IP-backed strategy and marketing paid off in getting eyeballs onto the game.
However, this performance isn’t as strong as it could have been. Looking back at the first week of MultiVersus’ beta, viewership was more than double that of the full release, suggesting that interest decreased during the intervening time. Much of the excitement for MultiVersus came from the game’s high concept: Getting to see WB characters duking it out. The beta paid off this excitement, but at the cost of viewership for the full release. Hyping up early access or beta works better for indie developers who need to find an audience and get them to rally behind the underdog. In the case of a massive company like Warner Bros., fans are already interested: The focus should be more on strong gameplay at launch.
The MultiVersus Ambassador Program Leverages Influencers to Drive Hype
In a smart move, WB Games had the foresight to back up their full release with a fleshed-out Ambassador Program, in which well-known creators in the space were asked to actively promote the game and make content on an ongoing basis. Among the MultiVersus Ambassadors, BltzZ brought in the most viewership on his YouTube VODs with 990K views while THE DIFFERENT NERD generated 656K views with roughly one-eighth of BltzZ’s subscribers (142K vs. 18.4K). This gap demonstrates the importance of having not just big-name streamers, but also streamers who will dedicate themselves to the project with sheer airtime. Note as well that some of the MultiVersus Ambassadors create content for other platforms, like Wistawii on Twitch and BlackYoshi on TikTok.
While the forward-thinking Ambassador Program is a great idea, there are plenty of Twitch streamers who are consistently covering the game. Streamers like gsmVoiD and mirrormantf have generated 566K and 372K hours watched, respectively, with airtimes of over 400 hours since the full release of MultiVersus. This kind of streamer with high airtimes is the best candidate for an Ambassador Program, rather than mega-popular streamers like caseoh_ who, although bringing in 621K hours watched, has only committed 11 hours of airtime to MultiVersus.
Even on YouTube, which seems to be WB Games’ primary focus, there are plenty of other streamers to reach out to who are committed to MultiVersus content. YouTubers NAKAT, RPS FGC, and Uncle Spamuel all devote the majority of their content to MultiVersus, with videos regularly hitting thousands of views and some even reaching hundreds of thousands. One clever video from RPS FGC with 349K views bridges the gap between Smash Bros. players and potential MultiVersus players with a character-by-character comparison across the two games.
Twitch Chat Reveals the Most Anticipated Potential Characters for MultiVersus
One of the benefits of live service games is that new seasons can act as a fresh start. MultiVersus Season 3, launching on the 17th of September, promises big with a much-requested trio of fighters joining the roster: The Powerpuff Girls. In all platform fighters, potential new character reveals are a much-discussed topic that bonds the community together and builds hype for the game.
To gauge the interest in prospective new characters, it can be worth checking out chat mentions of their names. Looking at Twitch chat mentions on MultiVersus streams over the past two months, Daffy Duck comes out on top with 2.1K chat mentions – double that of Scooby-Doo in second place with 1K chat mentions. Notably, many of the most speculated-upon characters are from Cartoon Network shows (Ben 10, Raven) and Looney Tunes (Daffy Duck, The Animaniacs). Meanwhile, the two confirmed fighters for Season 3 (The Powerpuff Girls and Nubia) brought in 655 and 405 chat mentions, respectively.
To put these figures in perspective, the already-released fighters bring in thousands or tens of thousands of chat mentions, similarly indicating their own popularity (or controversy) within MultiVersus. The most mentioned MultiVersus fighters over the same period are Taz and The Joker, with 18.4K and 17.6K chat mentions, respectively. Further down, the two new fighters for Season 2 (Beetlejuice and Samurai Jack) are performing admirably with 6.6K chat mentions each. The team at Player First Games would do well to look toward the sentiment behind these messages and balance the game accordingly.
MultiVersus has an uphill battle to fight, proving that the game has what it takes to turn into a live service mainstay. Season 3 will face competition on live streaming from fellow platform fighter Byte Breakers, a well-liked indie-backed title garnering a lot of attention with its early prototype. Stream Hatchet will update on Season 3’s performance after its first week.
UPDATE: MultiVersus Season 3 Debuts with Support from Loyal Streamers
In the first week of the Season 3 launch, MultiVersus still managed to pull on the goodwill of its existing fanbase to drum up excitement. Season 3 Week One brought in 206K hours watched with an airtime of 17.2K, proving that multiple streamers are still interested in seeing what the game has to offer. Although this isn’t as high as the viewership for Season 2’s launch, the decrease is expected for a later season.
More importantly, the reception of Season 3 has been positive. Apart from people’s love for the new characters (The Powerpuff Girls and Nubia), developer Player First Games has also made a number of appreciated buffs and nerfs to pre-existing characters. Buffs to fan-favorite Garnet have made her viable once more, and fixing mechanics like one-dodge projectiles has made the game feel less janky. This responsiveness to fan requests is what allows a live service game like MultiVersus to gradually build a community – a necessity to compete with pre-established live service games.
Responding to fan criticism also ensures that the game’s main supporters stick around over multiple months. The top streamers for MultiVersus Season 3 exemplify this success, with loyal creators like Hustle and gsmVoiD returning to the game with 20.2K and 12.8K hours watched, respectively. Season 3 also saw a burst of support from FaZe Clan’s Silky, who played the game during his 30-day straight subathon event for SUBtember.
Prior to Season 3, viewers felt that this update would be a make-it-or-break-it moment for MultiVersus. It seems that WB Games and Player First Games have set MultiVersus’ trajectory in the right direction gameplay-wise. But they’ll need to commit to the long haul to find success on the level of pre-established IP. Stream Hatchet will be watching in the coming months for new marketing moves from MultiVersus.
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