I was pretty brutal towards Disney Mirrorverse when it came out. I think it was the greatest feeling I've ever had from a game before, which, to be fair, is partly on me for having such high hopes for a mobile game from Kabam in 2022. It just had so much to offer. The eclectic take on Disney heroes and villains gave us a rich world to explore and character designs that were instantly iconic. The marketing made it look like a sprawling RPG with a deep story about the Dark Mirror, the Shattered, and the Guardians of the Mirrorverse. McFarlane Toys has even developed a whole series of action figures for this purpose.
It seemed like it was going to be a huge game, but then all we got was the same old rehashed gacha game slop, packed with predatory systems, dozens of different currencies and insurmountable grind, and so much advertising that at times it was like it is hard to figure out where the actual games were. Mirrorverse came so close to not being mobile game garbage, but in the end it was held back by all the things that give mobile gaming its deservedly terrible reputation.
I stopped playing Mirrorverse shortly after its release, but returned to it this summer during what could be described as a mental health crisis. I found it to be largely the same game, albeit with a few years of added content and characters, which is what I always liked the most. I learned about the recent troubles at Kabam, which has experienced two major waves of layoffs in recent years that have effectively reduced the Mirrorverse team to a skeleton crew. Development slowed but continued, with new characters and story chapters being added infrequently throughout the year.
On September 17th, shortly before the release of the newest character, Cinderella, Kabam announced on the community Discord server that it was time to pull the plug on Mirrorverse. All in-app purchases have been immediately disabled and the servers are scheduled to go offline on December 16, 2024.
I just returned to Mirrorverse in July and my overall financial investment in the game has paled in comparison to many players who have been into Mirrorverse since day one, although it's still so high that I'm ashamed to say it to reveal. It's hard to accept that it's going away forever, even if the signs of it have been visible for some time. You can see it in people's reactions to Discord as they go through the stages of grief.
The #feedback and suggestions channel is full of calls to sell the game to another studio or to release the files so the community can recreate the game themselves. Players are hoping for spin-offs, sequels, or relaunches that will never happen, and community managers don't have the heart to tell them that's it. The game will die in December and no one can do anything about it.
This is the reality of live service gaming that is particularly painful when it comes to mobile devices. Whether you've invested your time, your money, or both, it's hard to accept that all of those investments will soon be wiped out and you'll have nothing to show for it. There are no short-term goals in games like this. In such a situation, there is no refund, just a hollow “thank you” and the lingering feeling of being cheated.
With ten weeks left until the plug is pulled, it's fascinating to see where the game is today. To Kabam's credit, it handled the shutdown in the most gracious way possible, transforming the game from a free-to-play microtransaction nightmare into something that actually rewards you for your time.
All in-app purchases have been removed and replaced with a new currency called Mirror Fragments, which you can earn tens of thousands by simply logging in and completing challenges. These fragments can be spent on all types of progression materials that the game offers, from relics and gems to motes, seals, books and gold. You can also spend Fragments to purchase specific five-star Guardians from a pool that rotates once per week. No more loot boxes, no more pay-to-win, just a clear progression path that's fun and rewarding.
It's like Kabam depositing a few thousand dollars into everyone's account and telling them to go crazy, but even better because you can still play the game and make your own progress. The difference now is that progress is actually meaningful and measurable over a few days and weeks rather than months and years.
Ironically, Mirrorverse had to be shut down to finally become a great game, and I wonder if it would have been more successful if it had been more similar from the start. I don't pretend to know the economics of making or monetizing a mobile game, but I do know that I look forward to this version of Mirrorverse every day rather than being punished for missing one.
I'm going to join the Copium bandwagon and say that I hope this isn't the end of the Mirrorverse. The world of Mirrorverse and its interpretation of Disney characters is incredible and it feels like a waste to throw it all away now. There's already a tie-in to the full-length novel and a prequel manga that came out earlier this year. So I don't know if there's an audience for it, but it would be great if the story continued somehow. Mirrorverse deserves something better than this game, so I don't blame the people who aren't willing to give it up.
