Warner Bros. says that’s all, folks for Multiversus: The next season will be its last, but you’ll be able to play offline ‘for the foreseeable future’

Multiversus, the WB Games Smash Bros.-style brawler that was brave enough to explore what it would be like if Samurai Jack and LeBron James met on the field of battle, is approaching the end of its long, strange road. Earlier today, WB Games announced on X that the game’s fifth season, beginning next week on February 4, will “serve as the final update.” It’ll be brought offline and delisted from digital storefronts when the season ends on May 30, but WB Games says “players will be able to enjoy the game offline for the foreseeable future.”

In a blog post providing additional details about the final days of Multiversus, WB Games says Season 5’s new characters, Aquaman and Lola Bunny, will still be earnable as battle pass and login rewards, respectively. As of today, however, real money transactions will be disabled.

To keep anything you’ve purchased or earned in-game for use in offline play after the servers shut off on May 30, you’ll need to launch the game at least once during the last season. “After logging in, a local save file will be automatically created connected to your PlayStation Network, Microsoft Store, Steam, or Epic Games Store account, allowing you to enjoy the game offline with all earned and purchased content moving forward,” WB Games says.

As for why MultiVersus is shutting down, the new Season 5 section of the Multiversus FAQ page has this to say:

Why is Season 5 the final season for Multiversus?

This decision was not made lightly. All of us on the Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games teams have put our heart and soul into Multiversus, creating a unique social and cooperative experience from the ground up that brings together a variety of popular characters and worlds. We are very proud of the game we’ve built and are incredibly thankful for the support of the Multiversus community throughout this journey. Your passion and enthusiasm have been unmatched.

Not exactly an answer, but the signs had been in this direction for a while. In November, Warner Bros. Discovery chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said in a company financial call that it was “primarily Multiversus” to blame for a $100 million writedown, compounding the $200 million year-to-date loss WB had already suffered on Suicide Squad.

On the same call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said WB would be shifting its focus to “core franchises,” which he identified as DC (“in particular Batman”), Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, and Game of Thrones. The outlook for Multiversus began looking increasingly grim when WB Games announced it was ending ongoing support for Suicide Squad less than a month later, with 99 WB Games Montreal employees laid off in the aftermath.

Since its original launch back in July 2022, the Multiversus story has been a rollercoaster. In March 2023, despite its two complete seasons with buyable season passes and pro tournaments with $100,000 prize pools, WB Games announced that actually, the game had been in open beta the whole time, and abruptly pulled the game offline.

The game then disappeared for over a year, during which its only signs of life were promotional stickers in Belgian branches of McDonalds. The ups-and-downs continued with an eventual May 2024 relaunch that attracted over 100,000 players, which was followed by a wave of outcry when “a bug” prompted players struggling with its highest campaign mode difficulty to buy more lives with real money.

Despite the whiplash endured across its lifespan, we’ve always been fond of Multiversus, and not just because it realized the terrible majesty of Ultra-instinct Shaggy. We called it “pretty damn good” in our initial Multiversus review, and deemed it “definitely worth giving a rematch” in the run-up to its return.

Soon, however, Multiversus will join that honored pantheon of defunct fighting games, enduring through informal matches in Evo hotel rooms. Goodnight, sweet Banana Guard.

Until it’s delisted on May 30, Multiversus is available on Steam.