Marvel Rivals Proves that Competition isn’t the Issue

I recently made a post sharing my thoughts about the latest hero shooter Marvel Rivals and commented on the things that this game has done that made me love it.

In this article, though, I want to touch on the impact this game will have on the entire gaming industry (in my opinion) and not just the hero shooter genre because, during the last few years, we have seen how gaming companies kept saying that their games failed because of a “saturated market” or “too much competition” for new games to succeed.

Well…the player count of Marvel Rivals proves the exact opposite.

Players are not tired of superheroes, hero shooters, or live service games, we are sick of companies creating ugly and boring games that take advantage of the players by disrespecting our time and wallets.

Add to that developers or game directors who go to Twitter to attack anyone who gives any form of criticism and you give gamers a reason to not buy your game or other titles that come after.

While these companies do this, NetEase (Marvel Rivals’s developers) does the opposite.

They made a game that doesn’t only look good but also feels great to play and isn’t trying to squeeze every penny from you.

This wouldn’t be possible if NetEase had put heroes or gameplay elements behind a battle pass or store like Blizzard did Overwatch 2 (OW2) before they removed them.

Instead, the game was released with over 30 heroes, and NetEase confirmed that all future heroes will be free so all microtransactions will stick only to selling cosmetics.

On another note, some reviews keep attributing most of Marvel Rival’s success to it having the Marvel IPs and, while this is a contributing factor, it is not all it takes for a game to succeed.

Proof of this is the game Marvel Avengers which launched in 2021, failed, and was removed from stores in 2023.

However, its downfall was due to it trying to do too much.

It had the kind of cinematics you would expect from a triple-A single-player game while being a life-service looter shooter with repetitive missions and microtransactions selling skins and XP Boosters.

On the other hand, Marvel Rivals focuses on one thing and it does it perfectly:

Making players feel like they are playing as their favorite superheroes in a skill-based game where each hero feels like their comicbook counter part.

Another thing that I’ve seen is how some critics say that it is successful only because it is a rip-off of Overwatch 2.

To that, I have 2 things to say:

1. If Marvel Rivals is a rip-off of OW2 then OW2 is a rip-off of Team Fortress 2 which is a hero shooter made by Valve that existed for way longer.
2. Marvel Rivals is successful because it does the same as OW2 while doing the important things better, including what OW2 does wrong. In return, this attracts players who like hero shooters especially those who left OW2 because they were dissatisfied with its direction.

This is not the first time we have seen something like this.

Palworld created by PocketPair was a success for similar reasons. When people first saw this game they related it to another popular title — Pokemon.

That’s why when the release trailer came out people immediately started calling it Pokemon with guns.

But it wasn’t just Pokemon with guns. It was a new creative game that attracted many of the players who liked Pokemon due to the design of the “Pals” (the creatures you see in the image above) and a combination of gameplay mechanics typical of a survival crafting game.

Many of these players were frustrated due to the lack of innovation in Pokemon games and Palworld offered something refreshing that they immediately loved.

It’s the same with Marvel Rivals the only difference is that the players enjoy hero shooters over a fantasy pet-fighting game or whatever classification Pokemon and Palworld have.

Now, the question is…how does this impact other games in the industry besides hero shooters?

It does it by breaking the narrative that developers, publishers, and gaming journalists have been saying all this time about “saturation” and “competition” being the reason why games fail.

They can’t use that excuse anymore.

What Marvel Rivals shows is that games fail when they don’t offer gamers a reason to come back, especially live service titles which need players to play their game for as long as possible.

It also proves something very important some people refuse to accept:

Players care about the appearance of their characters and making a beatiful looking game is an effective way to entice players to try your game over others.

It might not apply to games where the setting or the story is the center of everything, but in a game where the character you play is the main focus, like in most live service games, making it ugly takes away some of the appeal.

Now, this doesn’t mean that a game only needs to look good to succeed. It will help to garner some attention but then it is gameplay, content, and how you treat your players that will keep them coming back.

This brings up another factor that contributes to the failure of a lot of recent games — the lack of goodwill.

The reason why this is important is due to one simple thing:

When it is clear to players that the developers don’t care about them, it is very hard to win them over.

I don’t know about you but as far as I understand, ignoring players, arguing with them, and openly mocking them on social media is an effective way to ruin any goodwill and damage your public image.

The only thing this does for game devs is put them in a position where their players are ready to leave them the moment a competitor arrives with a generous or interesting enough offer.

I think that describes the situation between Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2 perfectly and if the gaming industry keeps going the way it is we will start seeing more and more examples like this.

It’s only a matter of time.

Final Thoughts

Marvel Rivals sets a strong example for other gaming companies, showing that you can create a successful game even in a “saturated market” if you prioritize giving the players a good experience.

While the Marvel IP and similarities to Overwatch’s gameplay do play a role in its success, they are not the main elements.

The game is fun, looks beautiful, plays well, is not overly monetized, and the development team listens to its players instead of ignoring or mocking them.

They have accumulated a lot of goodwill with their community and earned a loyal player base, so I do not see this game falling off, for now at least.

Anyway, I’ll go play some Marvel Rivals now.

See you next time!