MultiVersus instantly smashes the record it just set for the most played fighting game ever on PC more than 2 times over

Posted by Dakota 'DarkHorse' Hills • July 26, 2022 at 7:22 p.m. PDT • Comments: 78

Update: MultiVersus Open Beta officially launched to all earlier today, and it's looking like a pretty big success out the gate.

The new Warner Bros. platform fighter instantly smashed the record it just set in early access for the highest amount of players on a PC fighting game ever by more than double.

In its first day of open beta, MultiVersus reached an all-time peak of 144,132 players just on Steam, which is more than the highest peaks Dragon Ball FighterZ, Brawlhalla, Guilty Gear Strive and Mortal Kombat 11 ever reached on the platform as its next closest contenders.

The game's average player count going back to early access has also grown to 41,067 according to Steam Charts and will likely only continue to go up for days if not weeks longer.

Our original story follows below with updated numbers for MultiVersus.

We logged the averages and peaks of 14 of the other largest and fighting games still being supported on PC, and guess what.

Their combined total average over the past month is only 28,902 even with the free-to-play workhorse that is Brawlhalla, which is arguably MultiVersus' biggest competition aside from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Unless Street Fighter 6, Project L or something else blows up massively in the near future, MultiVersus has already set the record for all-time peak players too that will stick around.

The next 2 closest to it for peaks are Dragon Ball FighterZ at 44,234 players and Brawlhalla's 34,169.

And remember, this is only counting Steam's numbers, and MultiVersus hasn't entered its open beta yet.

While MultiVersus is "free," the game's not freely available to everyone right now, as the only ones who can currently play are those who were in the previous closed alpha tests, those who buy a Founder's Pack, people who watch 1 hour of the game on Twitch or players who signed up to compete at Evo 2022.

It's certainly looking like WB's approach to making a free-to-play, cross-platform fighter full of recognizable characters will pay off massively for the company and developers.

Depending on just how high it can fly once it enters Open Beta this week and upon full release, developers and publishers across the space are going to be watching the success very closely — and some will likely change up their own plans accordingly.

This is certainly a sign that a free-to-play fighting game with good online and crossplay can work and do so very well, which could shake up the landscape as we know it.

Obviously, we'll need to see how those numbers are looking in the long-term after the release hype, but starting this high already very well could mean that MultiVersus will continue to be the biggest dude on the block (except maybe Smash Ultimate).

Developer support and communities are also important factors for a game's health, as the chart shows that long-established titles like Tekken 7 are beating out new ones like DNF Duel and The King of Fighters 15 handily.

MultiVersus' games as a service approach means that the fighter will continue to see frequent and notable updates for likely years to come so long as numbers remain good and the money rolls in.

While Smash will certainly be fine, I'd be absolutely sweating if I was in charge of Brawlhalla right now, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl isn't even a blip on the radar.

We'll of course be tracking MultiVersus' success and performance as it enters its next phases, but big changes appear to be on the horizon, if they aren't already here.