Since well before its launch, Marvel Rivals has been billed as a so-called Overwatch killer - a hero shooter that can topple the reigning king and innovator of the genre in the hearts and minds of fans. And while it's tempting to ask whether NetEase's massively popular game is indeed capable of taking down Blizzard's beloved but polarizing champion, Marvel Rivals has already shown that it's now the number one contender for Overwatch 2's title just over a month after its release.
For one thing, Marvel Rivals is swamping Overwatch 2 in numbers with an all-time peak of 644,269 players on the Steam charts alone (which don't account for console players or players on other PC platforms), compared to Overwatch's all-time high of just 75,361, and an average player count of 3-400,000 compared to Overwatch's average of just around 30,000.
But the tale of the tape between Marvel Rivals and Overwatch goes beyond player counts, especially because there are mitigating factors to consider. Overwatch 2 is currently unavailable in NetEase's home country of China, which carries a huge audience of players that haven't been able to play Overwatch for 2 years - though it'll be back in the country in February, which could see the game's numbers spike. And of course, Overwatch doesn't have the power of the most popular superhero IP in the world backing its game.
No, what's truly telling about the seemingly one-sided fist-fight between Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2 is the way Rivals is quickly delivering on promises Overwatch 2 has failed to keep or even make since before the sequel devoured its aging parent game to much controversy back in 2022.
Perfecting patches
Marvel Rivals just kicked off its first official season 1 after a truncated introductory season 0, and along with a much-needed balance patch, the game is already implementing features it took years for Overwatch 2 to heed. This includes a streamer mode that makes player names anonymous, and offering up detailed statistical info on the previous season's player data to provide some context on the content of the balance patch - something Overwatch 2 still doesn't do.
NetEase is also vowing to ban hardware adaptors that allow console players to use mouse-and-keyboard control schemes to take advantage of the auto-aim applied to controllers, a continuing problem in many games, Overwatch 2 included.
Crucially, the aforementioned balance patch did indeed address many of the issues commonly felt by players, including nerfs for Hela and Hawkeye, who remain deadly, viable heroes, but are less oppressive, and even making some changes to Jeff the Land Shark's notorious ultimate ability to align its hitbox more closely with its animation.
These are common pain-points addressed by players and content creators alike, and along with being reflected in the player data given by NetEase, it shows the developers are listening intently to the game's thriving (and vocal) community. And that's not even mentioning the new maps and new game mode that were also added in Marvel Rivals season 1.
NetEase's latest promise, that a new hero will be added to Marvel Rivals every six weeks, is also exciting news for fans, as that schedule easily eclipses the rate at which most other games in the genre add new characters to their rosters. For example, Overwatch only adds a new hero every other season, leaving periods of up to three months or more without any new heroes.
Marvel Rivals also has the added benefit that just about any character who may be added to the game, such as the upcoming Thing and Human Torch, will carry built-in fan anticipation thanks to years of comics and other stories backing them up.
And while it would be unfair to expect Blizzard to somehow generate thousands and thousands of comics and dozens of movies and shows to prop up their heroes, this does butt up against another growing pain-point for many Overwatch players who have noticed a marked downswing in the amount of lore and character development from Blizzard in recent years. Marvel Rivals even has dozens of in-game text stories to read, something Overwatch 2 fans would likely sweat over.
Super season
While we'll have to wait and see whether or not Marvel Rivals can deliver on its six-week hero release schedule while maintaining the quality of each character, for many gamers, Overwatch 2 has already become the king of broken promises.
Billed as a true sequel to Overwatch, the game that brought hero shooters into the mainstream and quickly became the go-to game for new players to the genre, Overwatch 2 promised to overhaul the game's core PvP game mode with a switch from 6 player teams down to 5, while innovating the existing Overwatch framework with a new PvE mode that would allow players to team up and upgrade their heroes through a story campaign.
However, Overwatch 2 eventually launched with only the PvP updates ready to go, overwriting the original Overwatch entirely, while also going free-to-play with a new battle pass mechanic - the overwhelming trend of successful new hero shooters, Marvel Rivals included. This alienated some fans, but also brought in a ton of new players who finally had access to the now free game.
What really pissed people off though, were the constant delays to the much vaunted PvE mode, which was finally outright canceled, with some of its proposed elements later being incorporated into temporary seasonal modes. That was the last straw for many Overwatch 2 players, even many of the ones who have faithfully stuck around. And while I personally wasn't too concerned (PvP will always be my bread-and-butter for Overwatch, a game I still play), the anger and disappointment among fans was palpable at the time, marking a huge shift in the way the game and its new content have been perceived since.
That's not to say Overwatch 2 is flailing; the latest hero addition Hazard has been relatively popular, and if it weren't directly competing with the New Relationship Energy that is still gripping the community around Marvel Rivals, the current season of the game would likely be getting a lot more positive attention. A revived 6v6 role queue mode has proved so popular that it went from being a temporary playtest to an all-season-long game mode, for example.
"As far as I'm concerned, Marvel Rivals has already staked a claim as the hero shooter to watch moving forward"
But for fans who feel burned by broken promises, an often sluggish response to serious concerns, and a content faucet that often feels more like a slow drip, Marvel Rivals is roaring out of the gate, building not just a massive ongoing playerbase, but an overall positive relationship with its community in a way that Overwatch 2 has been desperately trying to achieve for literally years at this point.
For some, that's a gap that can never be closed - gamers are a fickle lot, and we are all too willing to embrace a game that offers a better experience over tried-and-true titles we've been playing for years. And there are others, still dedicated to Overwatch 2, for whom Marvel Rivals has felt like only a momentary, flawed distraction from the honed edge of their old favorite.
But for the general gaming community, the real victory of Marvel Rivals over Overwatch (or vice versa) will simply come down to which game can keep anticipating and rising to the demands of its players, while also keeping an open line of communication between the developers and their customers, a necessity in today's live-service gaming environment.
As far as I'm concerned, Marvel Rivals has already staked a claim as the hero shooter to watch moving forward, bringing a level of competition to the genre that can only be beneficial to players of both Rivals and Overwatch 2. And if Blizzard is smart, they're paying close attention to the way NetEase is building a foundation around its rapport with its community of fans and players.
If you're diving into the action yourself, check out our Marvel Rivals character tier list.
