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Marvel Rivals

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Marvel Rivals
Developer(s)NetEase Games
Publisher(s)NetEase Games
Director(s)Guangyun Chen[1]
Producer(s)Stephen Wu[2]
Composer(s)Masahiro Aoki[3]
EngineUnreal Engine 5[4]
Platform(s)PlayStation 5[5]
Windows
Xbox Series X/S[6]
ReleaseDecember 6, 2024
Genre(s)Hero shooter
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Marvel Rivals (Chinese: 漫威争锋; pinyin: Mànwēi Zhēngfēng; lit. 'Marvel Confrontation') is a 2024 third-person hero shooter video game developed and published by NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on December 6, 2024. The game is free-to-play with a current lineup of 33 characters from Marvel Comics, and features cross-play across all platforms.[7]

Gameplay

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Marvel Rivals is a 6v6 player-versus-player, third-person hero shooter title.[8] With the right combination of two or three characters, players can make use of "Dynamic Hero Synergy" which further maximize their playable character's combat efficiency.[9][10] The game also features destructible environments, allowing players to alter the battlefield (overseen by Galacta) to their advantage.[9]

As of November 2024, 33 playable characters have been officially announced.[11][10][12] Additionally, five locations have been confirmed for the game, those being Yggsgard, a fusion of Asgard and Yggdrasil, Tokyo of 2099, the home of the Klyntar, Hydra Charteris Base set in Antarctica and the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda.[13][14][15][16][17] The game has three modes: Convoy, Domination, and Convergence.[18]

Quick Match

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Quick match games are non-ranked games where players can play three modes, Domination, Convoy, and Convergence. Domination is the only non-competitive mode that features multiple rounds.

Competitive

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Competitive features the same modes available on quick match with the difference being each mode has multiple rounds and wins/losses count towards a ranking system. Domination plays the same while for Convoy and Convergence, each team has to defend and attack. For Convoy and Convergence, the team that gets the farthest wins the match, scoring up to 3 points. If both teams reach the end of the map, they are both awarded 3 points and the game goes to overtime. The team that reaches the end of the map with the most time remaining will get two minutes while the other gets one minute. If both teams get the same amount of points, the game ends in a tie with no change to player rankings.

Playable characters

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Guangyun Chen said that they wanted to have a character roster ranging from lesser known characters to fan favorites, saying about the design process that "When it comes to designing characters in our game, we usually dive really deep into the background and personality of each Marvel character, so every character's gameplay mechanic and skill is really crafted to reflect who these heroes really are in the comics."[19]

Premise

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The story follows a hostile meeting between Doctor Doom and his heroic 2099 counterpart, which causes a "timestream entanglement" that leads to new worlds being created and heroes and villains from across the multiverse fighting one another to defeat both Doom variants before one claims victory over the new worlds.[22][23]

Development

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The game is currently being developed by NetEase Games, which had also developed two Marvel games prior to Marvel Rivals: Marvel Super War (2019) and Marvel Duel (2020).[24] NetEase Games has established a specialized team in Seattle, dedicated to game and level design, to collaborate with their team in Guangzhou, China on Marvel Rivals.[25] Jay Ong from Marvel Games described Rivals as one of their "most ambitious game development projects".[26]

The Marvel Rivals team continues to support the game through free updates, game modes, cosmetic items, and seasonal events.[27][28]

Release and marketing

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Playtests

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Marvel Rivals had a closed alpha test accessible to the public lasting ten days, from May 10–20, 2024.[26] Players could earn permanent rewards transferrable to the game's final release through gameplay. Included rewards were an exclusive alpha tester title and a playable skin for the character Scarlet Witch, both earned through the test's dedicated battle pass. Additional permanent rewards were the "Dawn of Legends" title, gained from placing Top 32 in the game's eponymous alpha tournament, and an in-game spray decoration, gained by playing with/against a game developer during the playtest.[29]

NetEase received backlash during the alpha playtest when streamer Brandon Larned called out the company on social media for including a non-disparagement clause in the contract given to content creators who had access to the alpha test, barring reviews from saying anything negative about the game. Following the controversy, NetEase apologized and stated it would be revising its contract to be more creator-friendly.[30]

A closed beta test for Marvel Rivals took place from July 23 to August 5, 2024 for both consoles and PC.[31][32]

Release

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Marvel Rivals is free-to-play from its initial release. Though the game was set to release for Windows via Steam and Epic Games, NetEase Games had stated that it is exploring potential releases on other platforms.[33][34] During Sony's State of Play held in May, the game was revealed to also be released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, as well as its upcoming beta playtest.[10][35][36] On November 16, 2024, it was confirmed that Marvel Rivals features an option to select between English, Japanese or Mandarin voice overs at a launch date.[37]

The game was released on December 6, 2024.[38][39] The Winter Celebration event is scheduled to launch on December 20, 2024; it will feature a new game mode similar to the Nintendo series Splatoon where all the players play as Jeff the Land Shark.[28]

Monetization

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Marvel Rivals is a free to play game and the developers NetEase stated that there will be no purchasable gameplay elements such as heroes or maps. There are methods to purchase cosmetic items like skins, either individually, in bundles, or through a premium battle pass system called "Luxury Pass", though there will also be ways to earn cosmetic items through free play. The battle passes are not time-gated—once purchased they can be completed at the player's own time.[40]

Tie-in media

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Marvel Rivals Infinity Comic (2024) is a six-issue digital limited series by writer Paul Allor and artist Luca Claretti; it was published by Marvel Comics as part of their Infinity Comics program on Marvel Unlimited.[41][42] A new game mode inspired by Marvel Rivals was also added to the tabletop Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game.[41][42]

Reception

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Marvel Rivals received "generally favorable" reviews from critics for the PC and PlayStation 5 versions, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.[43]

The game reached 10 million players worldwide within 72 hours.[47][48] Furthermore, it peaked at 480,990 concurrent players on Steam on December 8, 2024.[47][49] It surpassed 20 million players as announced on December 17.[50]

Marvel Rivals's director Thaddeus Sasser contrasted the game's success with the commercial failure of hero shooter Concord released the same year, attributing the latter's underperformance to it not providing unique value to overcome switching cost in live services.[51][52]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e Alternate skin[20]
  2. ^ a b The PlayStation 5 version of the game includes an exclusive skin for the character.[21]

References

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  1. ^ "Marvel Rivals Devs Still Don't Know if They Can Make Cross-Progression Work". October 17, 2024.
  2. ^ Wu, Stephen (May 30, 2024). "Marvel Rivals is coming to PS5: Venom and Adam Warlock revealed, Closed Beta test announced for July". PlayStation.Blog. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  3. ^ Aoki, Masahiro [@Godspeed_ViViX] (December 6, 2024). "I'm so thrilled and excited to announce that I had the honor of composing the music for the game Marvel Rivals, which is released today!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 9, 2024 – via Twitter.
  4. ^ Morgan, Thomas (July 31, 2024). "Marvel Rivals pushes Unreal Engine 5 hard - and Series S can't quite hack it". Eurogamer.net.
  5. ^ Tailby, Stephen (May 30, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Officially Confirmed for PS5, Closed Beta Test in July". Push Square. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  6. ^ Doolan, Liam (May 31, 2024). "New Free-To-Play PVP Shooter 'Marvel Rivals' Locks In Xbox Release". Pure Xbox. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  7. ^ "Is there crossplay in Marvel Rivals?". Polygon. December 13, 2024.
  8. ^ McWhertor, Michael (March 27, 2024). "New hero shooter Marvel Rivals looks like Overwatch with Marvel heroes". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 27, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Parrish, Ash (March 27, 2024). "Marvel Rivals is a mix of Overwatch and superhero battles". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 30, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Watts, Steve (May 30, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Coming To Consoles, PS5 Beta And Exclusive Spidey Costume Confirmed". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  11. ^ Bonthuys, Darryn (March 28, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Characters: Every Superhero And Supervillain Revealed So Far". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  12. ^ Hilliard, Kyle (May 31, 2024). "Venom And Adam Warlock Are Coming To Marvel Rivals, Closed Beta In July". Game Informer. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  13. ^ Dedmon, Tanner (April 12, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Reveals Yggsgard Map, Hela Teaser". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  14. ^ Parijat, Shubhankar (April 30, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Trailer Reveals Tokyo 2099 Map". GamingBolt.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2024. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  15. ^ Marvel Rivals - Official Klyntar: Symbiotic Surface Map Reveal Trailer. IGN. November 28, 2024. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  16. ^ Marvel Rivals - Official Hydra Charteris Base: Hell's Heaven Map Reveal Trailer. IGN. November 26, 2024. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  17. ^ Marvel Rivals: First Look at the Wakanda Birnin T'Challa Map – IGN First. IGN. November 14, 2024. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  18. ^ Barovic, Andrej; Robertson, Scott; Challies, Josh (May 12, 2024). "All Marvel Rivals modes confirmed so far". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on July 13, 2024. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  19. ^ Cawley, Sam (December 11, 2024). "Marvel Rivals' game director breaks down success on smash-hit hero-shooter". GAMINGbible.
  20. ^ Schedeen, Jesse (December 10, 2024). "Marvel Rivals: The Comic Book Origins of the Game's Unlockable Skins". IGN. Archived from the original on December 12, 2024. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  21. ^ O'Dwyer, Matthew (December 4, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Has Good News for PlayStation Players". Game Rant. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  22. ^ Hashimoto, Marika (March 27, 2024). "Marvel Rivals PVP Shooter Boasts Incredible Lineup of Marvel Characters". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  23. ^ Guang, Guang (November 16, 2024). "Marvel Rivals: Dev Vision Vol. 1 | All 33 Heroes Playable On Dec 6, 2024". www.marvelrivals.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  24. ^ Watson, Cole (March 28, 2024). "NetEase is developing a Marvel Rivals multiplayer game". KidScreen. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  25. ^ Romano, Sal (March 27, 2024). "Team-based PvP third-person shooter Marvel Rivals announced for PC". Gematsu. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  26. ^ a b Maas, Jennifer (March 27, 2024). "'Marvel Rivals' Free-to-Play Game Featuring Rocket Raccoon, Spider-Man, Magneto, Magik and 12 More Characters to Launch in May". Variety. Archived from the original on March 27, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  27. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (December 10, 2024). "Marvel Rivals' First Post-Launch Patch Focuses on Squashing Bugs, Stops Players Getting Stuck on the Edge of the Map". IGN. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  28. ^ a b McWhertor, Michael (December 16, 2024). "Marvel Rivals is going full Splatoon with a game mode that's all Jeffs, all the time". Polygon. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  29. ^ Cornelia, Michelle (May 15, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Closed Alpha: All permanent rewards & how to get them". Dexerto. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  30. ^ Gould-Wilson, Jasmine (May 13, 2024). "Marvel's answer to Overwatch issues apology for leaked contract that would have banned streamers from saying anything bad about the game". GamesRadar+. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  31. ^ Deschamps, Marc (June 26, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Announces Console Beta Dates and Details". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2024. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  32. ^ "Closed Beta Test Date Announcement & Console Sign-up Is Starting". Marvel Rivals. June 26, 2024. Archived from the original on July 11, 2024. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  33. ^ Gilbert, Fraser (March 27, 2024). "'Marvel Rivals' Dev Hints At Possible Xbox Version Following PC Launch". Pure Xbox. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  34. ^ Anhalt, Bobby (March 27, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Console Version Possible". Game Rant. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  35. ^ Bailey, Kat (May 30, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Is Coming to PS5 and Xbox - State of Play 2024". IGN. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  36. ^ Myers, Maddy (May 30, 2024). "Marvel Rivals is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X". Polygon. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  37. ^ SacrilegeGG, SacrilegeGG (November 16, 2024). "Marvel Rivals launch roadmap — Full Details". Rivals.Fan. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  38. ^ Cardy, Simon (December 9, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Review". IGN. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  39. ^ Cichacki, Shaun (December 6, 2024). "'Marvel Rivals' Could Be the Competition 'Overwatch' Needs (Hands-On Impressions)". VICE. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  40. ^ Hore, Jamie (December 5, 2024). "Marvel Rivals says no to time-gated battle passes and pay-to win elements". PCGamesN. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  41. ^ a b Johnston, Rich (December 16, 2024). "Paul Allor & Luca Claretti Launch a New Marvel Rivals Comic Book". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
  42. ^ a b Brooke, David (December 16, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Infinity Comic series launches today". AIPT. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
  43. ^ a b "Marvel Rivals (PC Critic Reviews)". Metacritic. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  44. ^ "Marvel Rivals (PS5 Critic Reviews)". Metacritic. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  45. ^ Broadwell, Josh (December 6, 2024). "Marvel Rivals review: "So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  46. ^ Simon Cardy (December 10, 2024). "Marvel Rivals review". IGN. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  47. ^ a b Kuhnke, Oisin (December 9, 2024). "Cor, video games did some big numbers over the weekend, with Marvel Rivals reaching 10 million players, and Steam breaking its own concurrent user count for the umpteenth time". VG247.
  48. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (December 9, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Is a Smash Hit With 10 Million Players in Just 3 Days". IGN.
  49. ^ Michael, Cale (December 9, 2024). "What is Marvel Rival's Player Count?". Sports Illustrated.
  50. ^ Michael, Cale (December 17, 2024). "Marvel Rivals Hits 20 Million Players — Get a Free Spray to Celebrate". Sports Illustrated.
  51. ^ Kennedy, Victoria (December 11, 2024). "Marvel Rivals director says Sony flop Concord didn't offer any "unique value" for players". Eurogamer. Retrieved December 15, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  52. ^ Serin, Kaan (December 11, 2024). "Marvel Rivals director reckons Concord flopped because it wasn't original enough: "I don't think anybody can accurately predict this"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved December 15, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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