Image: Nintendo LifeLate last month, Warner Bros. announced that it was shutting down three studios including Player First, the team behind the soon-to-be-defunct Smash Bros-style brawler MultiVersus. Before things went south, however, it seems that the publisher was looking to another Nintendo franchise for inspiration, this time with WB San Diego behind the wheel (thanks, VGC).According to Sacred Symbols podcast host Colin Moriarty (via "someone once associated with WB San Diego"), the studio was working on a Mario Kart-style racing game codenamed 'Moonlight'. A couple of potential titles were being floated for the racer during development, with both 'WB Racers' and 'XDR (Cross Drift Racers)' on the table."Project Moonlight's roster of drivers would come from Warner's wide array of IP, including Adventure Time, Tom & Jerry, Scooby-Doo and more," Moriarty was apparently told, with his source claiming that the game was built in Unreal Engine 5 and boasted "stylised graphics".Despite being conceived near the start of WB San Diego's lifespan at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was hit with various setbacks, including consistent staff rotations and disagreements around whether it would launch as a free-to-play or paid title. Towards the end of development on the project, all console versions were apparently dropped from the launch plans, with the team hoping to port the PC version at a later date.Moriarty's source also mentioned that there was "quite a lot of animosity internally from people that worked on the game, who felt that it was profoundly unfair that their sister team, Player First, got to launch MultiVersus twice, while they never got a shot to launch at all".Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube800kWe've seen several big IPs try to break into the Mario Kart space of late, from Disney Speedstorm to DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing not that any have managed to come close to the reputation of the king, mind you. We can kind of see the logic behind trying again with Warner Bros. characters, but looking at the fate of MultiVersus, we doubt it would have been a success.A few weeks before the announcement of the Warner Bros. studio closures, it was revealed that MultiVersus would be shutting up shop on PC, Xbox and PlayStation less than a year after its relaunch. The brawler is set to go offline on 30th May 2025, though local multiplayer will still function after that date, assuming you have it downloaded by then. The new Wonder Woman project has also been axedFollowing reports of NetherRealm layoffsWould you have played a Warner Bros. take on Mario Kart? Let us know in the comments.[source youtu.be, via videogameschronicle.com]Share:01 Jim came to Nintendo Life in 2022 and, despite his insistence that The Minish Cap is the best Zelda game and his unwavering love for the Star Wars prequels (yes, really), he has continued to write news and features on the site ever since. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesRumour: A Switch 1 Direct Presentation May Take Place This WeekColour us sceptical, thoughPSA: Gold Points For Nintendo Switch Purchases Are Now DiscontinuedUpdate: The Golden age is over