MultiVersus General Discussion - Shut Down planned for May 30.

[SneakyLink]

Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social)

BREAKING: Warner Bros. Games is shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego, sources tell Bloomberg News. Warner Bros. is also canceling the Wonder Woman game.

bsky.app

PFG are getting shut down along with other studios at WB Games

Refresh my memory. Why did Warner Bros buy Player First Games again?

No seriously, I thought that was not a great move.

 

[Faso115]

Easiest prediction of my life. PFG basically had no future after MVS was done.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

On the one hand I feel for these people losing their jobs, but on the other... I really don't think they were that great at game development to begin with, so maybe investing in a more stable income source will be good for them.

 

[LimeTH]

On the one hand I feel for these people losing their jobs, but on the other... I really don't think they were that great at game development to begin with, so maybe investing in a more stable income source will be good for them.

The devs were talented. It was evidently a leadership problem.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

The devs were talented. It was evidently a leadership problem.

Agree to disagree. I'm aware of the leadership problems but there are way too many bugs and glitches that have been in since launch (some since beta) that are well documented to just be a management issue.

 

[Kirbeh]

Agree to disagree. I'm aware of the leadership problems but there are way too many bugs and glitches that have been in since launch (some since beta) that are well documented to just be a management issue.

You'd be surprised. If management wants the team to solely focus on x or y, even with the devs telling them that the whole thing is on fire, sometimes that fire just keeps burning because everyone is kept busy on other things they're forced to prioritize.

Granted I do agree that inexperience is a likely cause for some of it but again, if management is stubbornly prioritizing other things, it's hard to gain any meaningful experience.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

Sucks for Players first game, but not really surprising. But I'm really shocked they shutdown Monolith like that, they made so many good games in their long history like FEAR, Condmned and more recently the two Middle earth games who had very good reception, and I was pretty excited to see what they could do with Wonder Woman. Huge shame.

 

[Will]

Who does this leave as the remaining studios? Just NRS and Rocksteady?

 

[CapitaineCrash]

Who does this leave as the remaining studios? Just NRS and Rocksteady?

No they also have WB Montreal (dev of Gotham knights), Avalanche software (Hogwarts legacy) and TT games (Lego).

 

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

Who does this leave as the remaining studios? Just NRS and Rocksteady?

Netherrealm, Rocksteady, Avalanche Software, Portkey Games, TT Games (Traveler's Tales)...

...and right as I was typing this, I got Ninja'd.

 

[ivanlerma]

Sucks for Players first game, but not really surprising. But I'm really shocked they shutdown Monolith like that, they made so many good games in their long history like FEAR, Condmned and more recently the two Middle earth games who had very good reception, and I was pretty excited to see what they could do with Wonder Woman. Huge shame.

so FEAR is gone then

 

[Faso115]

Wait...who's mantaining MVS till it's delisted if PFG is no more?

 

[Wonder Smash]

Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social)

BREAKING: Warner Bros. Games is shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego, sources tell Bloomberg News. Warner Bros. is also canceling the Wonder Woman game.

bsky.app

PFG are getting shut down along with other studios at WB Games

Just to remind you, that was already mentioned in the link you posted.

 

[SneakyLink]

A level designer on Artstation posted what could have been stages including Barbie, Harry Potter, Mad Max, and Willy Wonka.

 

[Schnee117]

A level designer on Artstation posted what could have been stages including Barbie, Harry Potter, Mad Max, and Willy Wonka.

This confirms a lot of the leaks we had but it's also good insight into the sort of stuff going on with designing the stages. Shame none of these will get to see the proper light of day.

 

[Opossum]

A level designer on Artstation posted what could have been stages including Barbie, Harry Potter, Mad Max, and Willy Wonka.

On one hand I'm glad because I 100% called that one stage as being a Willy Wonka stage.

On the other hand I'm now really disappointed it never got to happen.

 

[LimeTH]

Whatever happened to that leaked Courage the Cowardly Dog stage? Was that real?

 

[Opossum]

Whatever happened to that leaked Courage the Cowardly Dog stage? Was that real?

Weirdly I think it, Coyote Canyon, and the ACME Labs stage were the only leaked stages that aren't on that page. That likely just means they were designed by a different level designer. Definitely not fake, imo, especially since the first two had completely finished thumbnails.

 

[Kirbeh]

Wait...who's mantaining MVS till it's delisted if PFG is no more?

It's slated to shut down, I don't think we have an actual date yet. It'll likely properly shut down as soon as the last major update rolls out. It's most likely already being maintained by a skeleton crew though.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

Absolutely wild to see this. Tbh leak everything about the game at this point, why not?

 

[LimeTH]

Absolutely wild to see this. Tbh leak everything about the game at this point, why not?

Honestly, yeah, **** it. What are they gonna do? Shut down the studio again?

 

[Opossum]

It's pretty normal for things to come out organically like this after a cancellation. Similar things happened when Disney Infinity got discontinued; in the following months, we got tons of information posted in the form of artstation and resume posts from developers.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

So I've never seen Blade Runner, is that like a specific area of the movie or just sort of a generic locale that fits the films aesthetic?

 

[fogbadge]

A level designer on Artstation posted what could have been stages including Barbie, Harry Potter, Mad Max, and Willy Wonka.

darn. a willy wonka stage would have been great

 

[CapitaineCrash]

I never expected them to work on a Blade runner stage. For those who don't know, while the movies are published by WB, they don't own the franchise.

So I've never seen Blade Runner, is that like a specific area of the movie or just sort of a generic locale that fits the films aesthetic?

Hard to tell from the concept but it looks like it's just a generic "fight on the rooftop" stage.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

So it WAS Steamboat Willie lmao

On the one hand I feel for these people losing their jobs, but on the other... I really don't think they were that great at game development to begin with, so maybe investing in a more stable income source will be good for them.

Dude. WTF. This is victim blaming to the Nth degree. You gotta get this idea of "bad games must always fail, good games must always succeed" out of your head (and the idea that bad games even exist in anything other than the realm of opinion)

 

[Capybara Gaming]

So it WAS Steamboat Willie lmao


Dude. WTF. This is victim blaming to the Nth degree. You gotta get this idea of "bad games must always fail, good games must always succeed" out of your head (and the idea that bad games even exist in anything other than the realm of opinion)

How am I victim blaming by saying people should be competent at their jobs? I don't think the devs were good at what they did, so I think they should find a change in careers and now is the best time to do so considering how volatile a market it is?

The art and music direction were the parts I thought were great, but those aren't the devs. Considering for more than half the betas lifespan the characters used default Unity hurt boxes, the hit and hurtboxes still don't make any sense, and the game to this day still crashes routinely, gives me errors when trying to load into a lobby, and somehow managed to have a bug where you could buy cosmetics without even being on a cosmetics menu? These are the bare minimum of "don't **** this up." Yeah, no, they don't need to be working in this field, or if they want to, they need to take a long programming course on how to do it properly.

You don't hire a grocery cashier to run the IT department.

I'm not HAPPY they're losing their jobs, but if they're not good at those jobs then I'd rather they go work in a field they're better at where they won't mess up something else and end up in this exact same situation again. I've literally been saying since launch that I didn't like the way this game was handled, and that was back when the game was alright but still not great

 

[Will]

“**** your dreams and aspirations, your company didn’t efficiently sell your fighting game project, now go work at Kroger wagie.”

 

[Capybara Gaming]

“**** your dreams and aspirations, your company didn’t efficiently sell your fighting game project, now go work at Kroger wagie.”

That is absolutely not what I said. This is a hyperbolic fixation on a metaphor used at the end while ignoring literally everything that came before it.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

That is absolutely not what I said. This is a hyperbolic fixation on a metaphor used at the end while ignoring literally everything that came before it.

Even if your intent was simply "different people are better at different jobs", there's an obvious and ubiquitous social connotation to the very concept of a grocery store cashier, fair or otherwise, that most likely associate with those words before they even think of the actual job and what it entails.

You know, you told me you had outgrown "Bubsy is just a meme" logic and your view of a gaming meritocracy.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

How am I victim blaming by saying people should be competent at their jobs? I don't think the devs were good at what they did, so I think they should find a change in careers and now is the best time to do so considering how volatile a market it is?

The art and music direction were the parts I thought were great, but those aren't the devs. Considering for more than half the betas lifespan the characters used default Unity hurt boxes, the hit and hurtboxes still don't make any sense, and the game to this day still crashes routinely, gives me errors when trying to load into a lobby, and somehow managed to have a bug where you could buy cosmetics without even being on a cosmetics menu? These are the bare minimum of "don't **** this up." Yeah, no, they don't need to be working in this field, or if they want to, they need to take a long programming course on how to do it properly.

You don't hire a grocery cashier to run the IT department.

I'm not HAPPY they're losing their jobs, but if they're not good at those jobs then I'd rather they go work in a field they're better at where they won't mess up something else and end up in this exact same situation again. I've literally been saying since launch that I didn't like the way this game was handled, and that was back when the game was alright but still not great

What an awful things to say. Multiversus should be a learning experience for everyone involved, and most of the time when there's a failure like that it's also because of poor management. Blaming individuals and telling them to leave the industry is awful.

 

[Will]

That is absolutely not what I said. This is a hyperbolic fixation on a metaphor used at the end while ignoring literally everything that came before it.

My fault, my fault.

Where do you work?

 

[Capybara Gaming]

Even if your intent was simply "different people are better at different jobs", there's an obvious and ubiquitous social connotation to the very concept of a grocery store cashier, fair or otherwise, that most likely associate with those words before they even think of the actual job and what it entails.

I worked as a grocery store cashier for four years even though I had skills that were better suited for other things there's absolutely no shame in working an in-between job.

My Intention absolutely is that yes different people are better in different fields. I'm saying that I don't think the developers are cut out for this field and should try a different one.

Fact of the matter is we have hearsay from an anonymous account that was not substantiated by the most reliable leakers we have about Tony being a control freak. I can believe it, considering that smile always felt fake to me, but until we have definitive proof we can't just say "blame it all on management."

If a dev has time to "throw Banana Guard together as a passion project in a weekend" then they absolutely had the time to fix these issues, and if the devs were good at programming then they could work within the confines of their shift (or outside of it if this Banana Guard story is to be believed) to fix these issues instead of of letting them get out of hand, but instead the issues kept piling up.

 

[darkvortex]

don't really go here anymore but I will say:

however you feel about a game, chances are the people working on it probably feel the same. When working on a "product" you kinda need to do what you're told

 

[Capybara Gaming]

What an awful things to say. Multiversus should be a learning experience for everyone involved, and most of the time when there's a failure like that it's also because of poor management. Blaming individuals and telling them to leave the industry is awful.

I'm aware I'm double posting here and I'll take the L for it but this needs to be said: blaming everything on management is an easy scapegoat for people outside looking in. Managerial problems are a lot more difficult than people give them credit for and they get all the blame for doing what they think is best.

It ain't always management. Sometimes the underlings just do the bare minimum to get by, and sometimes there are circumstances in place that can have them keep their job regardless of failings.

All you're doing is shifting blame to other individuals in higher positions, and that's not really fair, is it? We can play the blame game all we want but it doesn't change the fact that we can't see what's going on, so all we can do is speculate. If they're truly as good as you all seem to think they are, then they should have no trouble finding a job in this field or in a similar one.

My speculation based on what I saw from this game leads me to believe otherwise. I'll say it again: I'm not happy they are losing their jobs. I'd be a pretty ****ty person if I was. All I'm saying is that I personally think they should find a better and more stable career opportunity so that this doesn't happen again.

 

[darkvortex]

Who does this leave as the remaining studios? Just NRS and Rocksteady?

NRS and Rocksteady will probably be okay for now. They where just mentioned as being in talks to make games for the new DCU. WB Montreal are rumoured to be working on a Game of Thrones game. TT have a new Lego Game this year. There's Avalanche with Hogwarts 2 coming too, but I dunno if they actually own them. Pretty sure there's some mobile devs too.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

A sizable portion of their team has already founded a new studio, and seems to be actively hiring people who worked on Multiversus.

Team — Stoke Games

www.stoke.games

 

[SneakyLink]

A sizable portion of their team has already founded a new studio, and seems to be actively hiring people who worked on Multiversus.

Team — Stoke Games

www.stoke.games

Did some research. Turns out this studio was founded last February, before the relaunch happened.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

Did some research. Turns out this studio was founded last February, before the relaunch happened.

I see. Either way, it looks like they're hiring, and it they have multiple former MvS team members so... it's possible they could literally go right there into this studio.

 

[darkvortex]

So I've never seen Blade Runner, is that like a specific area of the movie or just sort of a generic locale that fits the films aesthetic?

it's really too unfinished to tell but it seems to be be based on the general city setting of blade runner than any one location