Marvel Rivals Anniversary Interview: Reflecting On 2025 And How 2026 Will Be "Bigger"

Marvel Rivals is now a year old, and what a year it’s been. A dozen new characters, player numbers Overwatch 2 could only dream of, and a brand-new PvE mode ensured the title was one of 2025’s biggest hero shooter successes.

As we move into the game’s second year, we had the opportunity to speak to NetEase and the Marvel Rivals development team to discuss the past, present, and future of the massively popular superhero live-service.

"The Feedback From Our Players Has Been Consistently Positive"

TheGamer: How would you reflect on Marvel Rivals, now that the first year has passed?

NetEase: Since we launched, we’ve really paid attention to player feedback. Over the past year, our team has made many adjustments and improvements based on player feedback, including changes to gameplay, content, and events. The feedback from our players has been consistently positive. In the recent Season 5 and anniversary event, players showed their support for the product through their actions. Going forward, we’ll continue to focus on a user-centered approach in our development.

TG: The game's player count numbers exploded at launch and seem to have settled into a hardcore group of players now - is this something you anticipated? Are you happy with where they are now?

NE: Marvel Rivals' launch success exceeded our expectations. It's awesometo see so many players still actively enjoying the game and even creating their own content. Looking ahead, we're not just planning to roll out new heroes and gameplay; we're also committed to listening to the community. Whether it's bringing popular memes into the game or adding new heroes and features that players are excited about, we want to make sure everyone has a great time. Ultimately, our goal is for our player community to enjoy every moment they spend with Marvel Rivals.

Art of Deadpool for Marvel Rivals, showing him throwing up a peace sign.

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TG: What are some of the highlights from the first year?

NE: Since Marvel Rivals launched, we've rolled out a bunch of popular heroes and gameplay modes. For example, Jeff the Land Shark went viral on social media right from the start, and we also introduced the Fantastic Four family in Season 1, a new PvE mode, and new heroes, along with our anniversary event in Season 5. Players have really loved all this new content!

We’ve been actively listening to the community too, bringing in popular memes like Jeff and Blade. We even launched activities like Jeff's Break Time, which sparked a ton of discussions among players on social media.

TG: Somebody calculated that, if you released a character every six weeks, there are enough Marvel Heroes to last you 875 years. Obviously, that’s never going to happen, but having surpassed Overwatch’s character count, are you happy with the cadence at which they’ve been added?

NE: Yes, we’ve added a lot of content and value to the community. As a team, we stay flexible and will adjust our development plans based on insights gained from long-term operations and feedback from the community. We did increase the frequency drop of heroes since launch. Our team consists of talented designers, programmers, and artists who work together to ensure that we maintain a frequency of hero update. We have been very successful on this front.

Gambit and Rogue having a picnic in Marvel Rivals.

TG: I’d like to quickly address a concern from the community that has popped up recently. You explicitly reference straight relationships like Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman and Rogue and Gambit, but have yet to mention queer relationships, like Angela and her wife - is this something you plan to do in the future?

NE: When we're designing and introducing new heroes, we always take inspiration from the character relationships in Marvel Comics. And when we have a good season theme coming up, we’ll pick our hero combinations according to what fits perfectly with that theme.

We sent a follow-up question to NetEase regarding their answer here for further clarification.

TG: We previously spoke at Tokyo Game Show in 2024, just ahead of the game’s launch, and you said a story mode wasn’t in your plans. Has this changed one year on?

NE: Our team had considered creating a PvE mode for a while, but couldn't settle on the right narrative context until we watched a special advance screening of the animated series Marvel Zombies. Realizing the show's concept fit our game's ethos perfectly, our team was able to assemble a prototype of the Marvel Zombies game mode in about six months, experimenting with the new player skills for the PvE mode.

With two big Marvel movies coming out next year, we’re planning to collaborate even more closely.

TG: Are you still in regular contact with people at Marvel? What have their impressions been over the last year?

NE: Yeah, we’re always in touch. One part is about sharing feedback from the community, and the other part is about discussing our plans for the future. We all believe 2025 was a great year, but we have even bigger plans for 2026.

TG: Can you reveal, or at least tease, anything you have in the pipeline for year two?

NE: In the next year, we'll keep rolling out new heroes and maps, and we'll also focus on improving and optimizing the existing PvE mode. We aim to look at it more deeply to further expand the gameplay. Plus, with two big Marvel movies coming out next year, we’re planning to collaborate even more closely with them. Stay tuned for more details!