Summary
There’s no denying the success ofMarvel Rivals. Besides just being a technically sound game, it also looks good and has a healthy content calendar. NetEase also gets a lot of praise for listening to the community, even if the community is wrong. With the hap in the hero shooter that Overwatch 2 left, it’s not surprising that Marvel Rivals is thriving.
It’s unfortunate thatOverwatch 2 could never reach the heights that the original game did. Blizzard promised a lot before the launch, includingthe controversial PvE mode, but the state in which the game launched gave NetEase the perfect opportunity to eat its lunch. And, with so many players dropping off, the playerbase was ripe for the taking.
Almost Half Of Overwatch 2’s Drop-Off’s Are Now Marvel Rivals Players
According toresearch done by NewZoo(viaInsider Gaming), 45 percent of the players that fell off Overwatch 2 in December 2024 are now playing Marvel Rivals. Part of the study compared games that were losing players to similar games that were gaining them, and there seems to be a direct correlation between Overwatch 2 drop-offs and new Marvel Rivals players.
According to the study, Marvel Rivals accounted for seven percent of the growth in the free-to-play games player count. While Overwatch 2 accounted for an eight percent drop, it wasn’t nearly as much as that of Apex Legends with 13 percent, League of Legends with 14 percent, and Counter-strike 2 and GO with 15 percent.
While it’s evident that Marvel Rivals is eating Overwatch 2’s lunch, NetEasedoes not think that the two games are necessarily… rivals. “Both Marvel Rivals and Overwatch are excellent superhero shooters and are both well-designed and supported by outstanding development teams,” said NetEase during an investor meeting. “We believe the market is large enough to accommodate two excellent games.”
It seems Marvel Rivals has no plans to slow down, as it will now aim tointroduce a new character to the game every two months.
