MultiVersus update prevents mod-using players from launching the game

If there’s a game on PC, then it has a mod community. Warner Bros.’ platform fighting game MultiVersus is no exception, and considering all the different properties it pulls from, it almost encourages savvy players to add their own creations to the roster. Sadly, the game’s latest update has prevented those players from booting the game at all if they have mods installed.

MultiVersus modder @GhostsSoup confirmed the change on Twitter, bemoaning that developer Player First Games has “killed modding of any kind.” It sounds a bit hypocritical given the studio’s name, but as of the latest update, it’s true.

Multiversus will no longer boot up if you have mods installed. They killed modding of any kind. If we ever find a way around this, I will make sure to post about it, but at the moment, no mods will work.

— Ghost (@GhostsSoup) August 17, 2022

The writing was on the wall for modders ahead of this update, as things like custom skins were getting streamers in trouble. The majority of these were harmless, bringing other characters into the game as re-skins of ones who are actually on the roster. Creative director Tony Huynh seems okay with mods from the dev side of things, having previously talked about removing barriers for fighting game newcomers. The issue then seems to be on publisher (and IP owner) Warner Bros.’ side. Skins are a source of revenue for the free-to-play game, and mods do stand in opposition to that.

Another sticking point here is the game’s always-online nature. It’s not uncommon for PC games to restrict mods to offline play only, but MultiVersus doesn’t offer that. Training modes like The Lab or local custom games would be ostensibly safe environments for mod use, but they’re inaccessible when mods are present, along with the rest of the game.

This is disappointing news for modders to be sure, but MultiVersus has plenty more official characters on the horizon. DC Comic’s Black Adam and Gremlins‘ Stripe are both coming during Season One, arriving sometime after Morty later this month. Leaked voice lines also point toward Beetlejuice and The Wicked Witch joining the roster in the future.