MultiVersus is technically not for everyone yet, but thousands upon thousands of players are already flocking to check out the new platform fighting game.
Although the title is still in limited early access, MultiVersus is setting records for fighting games on PC, and its average player count is higher than every other major fighter on Steam combined.
Using useful data from Steam Charts, Warner Bros. ‘The platform fighter game has an average of 38,872 players online at any one time, and an all-time massive peak of 61,964.
We’ve scored averages and tops of 13 of the other biggest fighting games still supported on PC, and guess what.
Their combined total average over the past month is just 28,902 even with the free cast that is Brawlhalla, which is arguably the biggest competition for MultiVersus other than Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Unless Street Fighter 6, Project L, or something else is blown up in a big way in the near future, MultiVersus has already set the record for all-time peak players who will continue to do so.
The next two players closest to the tops are Dragon Ball FighterZ at 44,234 players and Brawlhalla with 34,169 players.
And remember, this is only Steam numbers, and MultiVersus hasn’t entered the open beta yet.
While MultiVersus is “free,” the game is not currently free for everyone, as the only people who can currently play are those who participated in previous closed alpha tests, those who purchased Founder’s Pack, and people who watch an hour of a game on Twitch or players who have registered to compete in Evo 2022.
| Title | Average 30 days | 24 hour peak | Peak at all times |
| MultiVersus | 38872 | 51346 | 61.964 |
| brawl | 12,426 | 17298 | 34169 |
| Tekken 7 | 4,436 | 6428 | 18.766 |
| DNF . duel | 2766 | 1,267 | 12,324 |
| Street Fighter 5 | 2,349 | 3,108 | 13807 |
| Mortal Kombat 11 | 2,139 | 2,582 | 27301 |
| Guilty Gear Jahed | 1,829 | 1,921 | 30939 |
| Dragon Ball FighterZ | 1,633 | 1,930 | 44234 |
| King of Fighters 15 | 542 | 813 | 8205 |
| ether rivals | 422 | 618 | 2828 |
| Granblue fantasy: Versus | 162 | 180 | 2,599 |
| Persona 4 Arena Ultramax | 96 | 114 | 5628 |
| Smeared blood: Lumina type | 72 | 106 | 13182 |
| Nickelodeon All Star Brawl | 30 | 46 | 9,120 |
It sure sounds like WB’s approach to making a free-to-play cross-platform fighter full of recognizable characters would pay off hugely for the company and developers.
Depending on how high you can fly once the Open Beta is in this week and upon full release, developers and publishers throughout the space will be watching success closely — and some will likely change their own plans accordingly.
This is definitely a sign that a well-played free online fighting game and crossover can do very well, which could change the landscape as we know it.
Obviously we’ll need to see what those numbers look like in the long run after the hype around the release, but starting such a really good rise could mean that MultiVersus will continue to be the biggest man on the block (with the possible exception of Smash Ultimate).
Support from developers and communities is also an important factor in the health of a game, with the graph showing that established titles like Tekken 7 outperform new games like DNF Duel and The King of Fighters 15 with ease.
MultiVersus Games as a service approach means the fighter will continue to see frequent and noticeable updates for years to come as long as the numbers stay good and the money flows.
While Smash would definitely be fine, I’d totally sweat if I was in charge of Brawlhalla right now, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl just wasn’t a picture on the radar.
We’ll of course be tracking the success and performance of MultiVersus as it enters its next phases, but big changes seem to be on the horizon, if they aren’t already there.