Marvel Rivals Success Elicits Sour Grapes
Marvel Rivals is a certified hit, and not everyone is happy about that. Gamers certainly seem to be; after hitting big when it launched on December 6, 2024, Marvel Rivals is maintaining 90% of its player base on Steam a month later, which is a huge win for the game. According to SteamDB, its all-time peak player count is 480,990 concurrent players, which was achieved when it launched, and it currently has 435,322 players. This suggests not only that people like the game but that they haven’t gotten tired of it in a month – a month that included Christmas, meaning plenty of gamers got new games as gifts, which you’d think would have torn them away from something they’d already been playing for a few weeks. But nope, Marvel Rivals continues to dominate. In fact, it’s doing so well that it’s beating Overwatch 2, and I don’t just mean right now; Overwatch 2’s all-time peak player count is 75,608, which is between 17% and 18% of Marvel Rivals’ all-time peak and not much more of its current numbers. And I doubt anyone will be going away anytime soon because Season 1, which will bring in the Fantastic Four as playable characters and Dr. Doom and Dracula as the villains, is set to drop on Friday. You can see the trailer below:
You have to wonder if they timed Dracula as the villain of the first season to capitalize on the new Nosferatu’s popularity; I would guess not, as this was likely planned long before anyone knew if Nosferatu would be a hit, but it’s a funny coincidence nevertheless. (Sidebar: Nosferatu is outstanding, and you should definitely check it out.) I’d be very surprised if Blade doesn’t make his debut as a playable character as well, considering his introduction to Marvel Comics was in The Tomb of Dracula. The point is Marvel Rivals is going to be a big deal for a long time. But there is some predictable pushback to Marvel Rivals’ success, and it comes from the usual games journalists and outlets. See, Marvel Rivals committed the cardinal sin of giving gamers what they wanted – in this case, versions of the Marvel superheroes that look like their comic book counterparts, with accurate costumes (though some of them are a little too armored for my taste, much like the DC heroes’ outfits were in Injustice) and traditionally masculine and feminine forms for the characters. That’s why there are articles like The Gamer complaining that it has too many playable characters and that it should be more like Overwatch, which launched with fewer. (Based on the numbers, gamers appear to disagree; also see the comments to the article.) Multiple pieces are also popping up trying to downplay Marvel Rivals’ success, insisting it “still has a long way to go” before it’s considered significant. Sure. The below video from a YouTube content creator called HeroHei showcases a bunch of Concord fans (of which there are so many that Concord bombed badly enough to destroy the studio that made it) whining about Marvel Rivals:
Sour grapes were perhaps inevitable in the current gaming environment. Gamers are rejecting a lot of AAA releases that they perceive as woke and embracing games that aren’t; part of this is sociopolitical, but it also has to do with games that aren’t concerned with delivering a message focusing more on gameplay. That doesn’t mean Marvel Rivals has no issues; a friend of mine who’s been playing it has some problems with it but still thinks it’s mostly great. And that’s probably true for most people; whatever flaws there are don’t ruin the overall experience, which seems to be a lot of fun, and according to some of these articles, developer NetEase has been making fixes all along. Ultimately, NetEase should be happy that they’re pissing off the right people because it means they’re pleasing the right people, too.
Let us know what you think of Marvel Rivals (if you’ve played it) in the comments!
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Comments (1)
It was something I never understood in youth, that is, the pillars of civilization and what makes things work and function. The further things get from tradition, the more it becomes unrecognizable. Some characters just don’t belong. Form and structure matters. Without it, things become a sloppy mess of some kind of ooze and goo. Nobody is gonna buy into a midget in the NBA. I know some will argue, but it doesn’t belong. Or, an obese sprinter. There are exceptions, but not at higher levels. Woke in the military or corporate is shameful and embarrassing. The truth is, if the cruel world dgaf about straight normal people, then why would it care about body positivity and pronouns?
I gotta hand it to the Rivals team, that they actually made the Fantastic Four look interesting and compelling, something that the movies have not been able to do even though I did like the Hornblower actor in the first one as Reed. That was good casting. It was only for a couple issues long ago, but when they really put effort into it with a complete team, they can manage to make the Fantastic Four awesome, which really makes you wonder why they don’t do it more often. Maybe it’s a budget thing, but I’d think it would be worth it to have legendary stories and characters and make an impact on the youth.