For years now, we've seen the never-ending crossover trend in the world of video games. “Fortnite” has mixed in with every conceivable series, “Call of Duty” has joined it, and “Super Smash Bros.” has long since ceased to be a gaming world. It's a simple experiment in building a franchise empire, and the crazier the better. And they see us that way. A group of children want to know who will win in a battle between Goku and Super Mario And I'm willing to spend whatever it takes to figure it out.
multiverse of madness
A perfect example is “MultiVersus,” a free-to-play fighting game that will be released on May 28th, which has announced a lineup of franchises ranging from “Adventure Time” to “Steven Universe” to “Batman,” including “Rick and Morty” and “Friday the 13th.” In other words: If a Warner franchise has fans, even if it's niche, they'll show up here.
As always, it's up to us, the consumers, to resist the obvious siren song that comes in the form of season passes, variants, characters, costumes, skins, and more. And their new trailer is a perfect example of how they're trying to charm us. Would you like to see Agent Smith from The Matrix face off against Arya Stark from Game of Thrones? Or Batman face off against Tom and Jerry? Congratulations: Your dream has come true. It matches my nightmares.
For example, it's strange that there are seven characters from the DC Universe, but only three from the Looney Tunes (Taz, Marvin of Mars, and Bugs Bunny). As an experiment, it helps to see which franchises Warner has faith in. But this kind of Smash Bros., while fun as it may be, constantly reminds us that we're just consumers, just numbers in investors' bank accounts. And sadly, that trend is increasing.
