MultiVersus players report being put into bot lobbies after losing a few PVP matches 

Losing in a multiplayer game isn’t fun, but in the case of MultiVersus, it seems that losing can also get you trapped in a seemingly endless loop of AI-controlled fights. Many players are finding themselves in bot lobbies after losing a few rounds. This design decision by the developers at Player First Games may have been implemented to give less experienced players a fighting chance, but to many, it just forces uninteresting and uninvolved ways to play. 

Players on the MultiVersus Subreddit report being cued into bot lobbies after losing as little as a single match (it seems that the final score doesn’t matter). Player accounts with multiple losses are supposedly linked to a timer that removes the users from PVP matchmaking until either an unspecified number of wins is accrued, or a certain amount of time has passed. This bot matchmaking timer has been reported to reset after losing once more, leaving losers in a bot-lobby hell with only two ways out. 

Reddit user lionsnuggler69 sums it up best: “I have over 200 hours in the game. My main isn’t strong in the meta, but I love playing them. Unfortunately, this now means that I get robbed of the experience of playing with the community.” Despite its roster comprising various Warner Bros. properties, MultiVersus has characters that are stronger than others. This makes it difficult for those who play off-meta characters like Velma to win against a sea of Banana Guards and Bugs Bunnies. Since losing matches has the potential of pitting players against bots, more people will be inclined to pick the strongest characters over the rest of the cast. 

Bot lobbies wouldn’t pose that much of a problem if the AI was competent, but MultiVersus’s computer-controlled characters constantly whiff their attacks and make bad gameplay decisions. Not only do these bots make it boring to play the game, but players have no way to improve now that they have been stealthily removed from matchmaking. What’s strange is that MultiVersus’ PVE rifts feature difficulty modes that have varying levels of capable bots. It looks as though the AI in PVP bot lobbies is set to the lowest difficulty to give struggling players a fighting chance. 

Players have given multiple suggestions to help alleviate these forced bot lobbies. Some want bot lobbies to be separated into their own game mode. Others want bots gone from PVP altogether – which is a viable option considering the game’s playerbase is currently quite populated. MultiVersus may be one of the more accessible fighting games available, but separating players from the core PVP experience for losing is not something the game should do without the player’s consent.