MultiVersus developers say an in-game option to purchase more lives with real money was ‘a bug’
The makers of MultiVersus say an option giving players the ability to purchase more lives with real money during campaign missions is in fact “a bug,” and not a feature that’s meant to be in the game. Warner Bros’ answer to Smash Bros. made a big return last week after almost a year of dormancy, bringing with it a new campaign mode, which includes the ability to replenish lives with real money.
Under the bug, players could buy a full refill of lives—the number wasn’t specified, but reportedly six—for $10. As some Redditors pointed out, though, it will actually be even more than that: A bundle of 1,000 Gleamium in-game currency is $10 but the full refill costs 1,004 Gleamium, so you’re going to have to pony up for a second, smaller pack as well.
In a subsequent message posted to Twitter, Player First Games laid out some broad-strokes plans for future MultiVersus updates, including performance improvements, the addition of end-of-game stats, and the option to turn off team colors. “We’d also like to let you know that the option to purchase extra lives is a bug that has been addressed and is not an intended feature in the game,” the studio tweeted.
Some players have subsequently said, however, that the “bug” in question isn’t the feature itself, but the fact that it’s available at the “Insanity” difficulty level. The “Looney” difficulty, the highest in the game, states that players must “complete matches with a limited number of lives per day,” and notes that you can purchase more if you don’t want to wait for them to be automatically, but slow, replenished. “Insanity” difficulty, which is one step down, isn’t supposed to have limited lives, but the option to buy more was present anyway. That difficulty is now disabled.
So it seems this was indeed a bug, rather than an attempt to slip in even more monetization unnoticed. Even if that’s the case and this whole thing was just a matter of bad communication, it’s still not going to satisfy some players: 10 bucks for six lives is the kind of pay-to-play monetization we mostly associate with mobile gacha games. There’s no mention of the bug in the 1.01 patch notes that went live earlier today, so when the Insanity difficulty will return—and whether that’s an accurate assessment of what actually happened here—isn’t known.
**Keywords: MultiVersus, in-game option, purchase, real money, bug**
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the controversy surrounding the in-game option to purchase more lives with real money in MultiVersus has been clarified by the developers as a bug. While the situation has been addressed, questions remain about the communication and implementation of such features in the game. Stay tuned for updates on the resolution of this issue.