The majority of MultiVersus’ cosmetic content is locked behind paywalls, and it’ll cost £100 just to get all the skins.
Although it’s essentially the Warner Bros. equivalent of Super Smash Bros., MultiVersus isn’t being sold at a premium price and is instead going down the free-to-play route.
This has always been clear since the game was first announced but, even after a successful private alpha, there was natural trepidation about how it would handle its free-to-play elements.
A closed beta launched only yesterday (and is due to go public next week) and, unfortunately, it looks like it will require a lot of real money if you wish to obtain everything.
As it stands, MultiVersus has two types of in-game currency. Gold is the standard and can be earned through regular gameplay, such as completing daily challenges.
However, it seems a significant chunk of the game’s content is locked behind Gleamium, the premium currency, which you have to buy with real money. This includes the majority of the cosmetic skins.
Out of the 17 skins available, only one of them can be obtained with gold. The rest require either Gleamium or battle pass progression. While there is a free battle pass that rewards you with one other skin, the paid premium battle pass includes two.
So, how much does any of this actually cost? The premium battle pass requires 300 Gleamium and the least amount of Gleamium you can buy at once is 450 for £3.99.
Individual skins range from as low as 500 to as high as 2,000 Gleamium. Since you can buy 1,000 Gleamium for £7.99, the most expensive skins would cost you £15.
Characters can be unlocked for 700 Gleamium each, but there is the option to acquire them with gold. You also start with four available and can unlock a fifth (Wonder Woman) just by completing the tutorial.
Obviously, the game needs to make its money back somehow, but gating the majority of its content behind a paywall is predictably cynical.
The idea is that you’d only need to spend money on the one or two characters you actually want to play as. However, for those who want a complete package, they’d need to invest a ludicrous amount of money to get everything.
Including the battle pass, acquiring every skin so far could require 14,500 Gleamium. So, at minimum, you’d have to buy two packs of 6,000 Gleamium at £39.99 each, one pack of 2,200 Gleamium at £15.99, and one pack of 450 Gleamium for £3.99.
In total, that’s £99.96 just to get every skin, and that number’s only going to go up as more content is added in the future. This price also doesn’t account for the characters (since you can unlock them for free) or other unlockables like ring out effects, announcer voices, and emotes, most of which are, again, Gleamium exclusive.
Developer Player First Games could make adjustments to its economy depending on overall player reception. As of right now, though, we doubt MultiVersus will be the one to overturn the stigma free-to-play games have earned themselves.
MultiVersus is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
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