MultiVersus developers say an in-game option to purchase more lives with real money was 'a bug'

GamesFightingMultiversusMultiVersus developers say an in-game option to purchase more lives with real money was ‘a bug’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Warner Bros)

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The makers ofMultiVersussay 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. As you might imagine, I—and lots of other people—have questions.

Warner Bros’ answer to Smash Bros. made abig returnlast week after almost a year of dormancy, bringing with it a new campaign mode, which includes the ability to replenish lives with real money. As someone who spent many an hour exchanging money for life in various local arcades that struck me as not a particularly big deal, but given the reaction to the option onReddit, many MultilVersus fans felt differently.

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 of1,000 Gleamiumin-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 toTwitter, 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.

(Image credit: Multiversus (Twitter))

I am not a programmer so it’s possible I’m off base here, but my understanding of “bug” is a malfunction: Developers did something, it didn’t work, and they have to fix it. At first blush, that doesn’t seem to be the case here, as this is obviously an option intentionally developed for the game. 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.

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Wanted to try out the Insanity mode in #MultiversusFeels like its bugged because i have lives which is not advertised until looney mode. I went to buy lives to commint to beating it for a video but it costs 10 dollars to replenish lives? @Tony_Huynh @Player1stGames @AJAX_HQ is… pic.twitter.com/KtjeWx37H2June 4, 2024

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. Yes, you can wait until the lives replenish, but we all know that at least some portion of the player base isn’t going to do that. That’s the principle that free-to-play games are predicated on and I generally don’t have a problem with that, but when the prices go that high, for that little reward? Yeah, I can’t get behind that.

There’s no mention of the bug in the1.01 patch notesthat 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. I’ve reached out to WB Games for more information and will update if I receive a reply.

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