| Marvel Rivals | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Get ready to spring into action in Marvel and NetEase's 6v6 third-person hero shooter, Marvel Rivals! Read on to learn about the game's latest news and developments!
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Marvel Rivals News
2025
April 23
⚫︎ NetEase Games has revealed a brand-new limited-time mode for Marvel Rivals called Giant-Size Brain Blast, launching on April 25. This delightfully chaotic update gives all your favorite Marvel heroes—like Captain America, Spider-Man, Loki, Moon Knight, and Venom—a comical bobblehead makeover, complete with massive heads and expanded hitboxes for extra mayhem.
In addition to the goofy visuals and offbeat combat, players who dive into the mode can earn free event-exclusive titles and an emote. While the end date for the event hasn’t been announced, the fun kicks off April 25, giving fans a fresh reason to jump into the battlefield.
April 22
⚫︎ NetEase has confirmed that Marvel Rivals will add Kirisaki Mountain-themed skins for Loki and Hela in late April. The announcement follows the launch of Season 2, which introduced Emma Frost as a new Vanguard, a Krakoa map, and a mix of free and purchasable skins. Season 2 also includes new cosmetics for characters like Magik and Iron Fist, with additional content continuing to roll out.
April 16
⚫︎ NetEase has announced that Marvel Rivals will receive a new costume customization feature on April 17 at 2 AM PT / 5 AM ET. The update will introduce additional color palettes for hero and villain outfits, with options such as Phantom Purple,
Winter's Wrath,
and Rosy Resilience.
These new customization choices are expected to be available through the in-game cosmetic store.
April 8
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals fans can earn a free skin for Vanguard character The Thing by redeeming a promo code when signing up for a free month of Marvel Unlimited.
Players eager for more free cosmetics in Marvel Rivals will have the chance to unlock the Chaos Gown costume for Scarlet Witch when Season 2: Hellfire Gala launches on April 11. By playing three matches, fans will receive a Scarlet Witch-themed nameplate, while completing nine matches will unlock the Chaos Gown skin—featuring the character in a striking red and black dress, as seen in the season’s reveal trailer.
April 7
⚫︎ NetEase Games has unveiled new gameplay footage showcasing the upcoming X-Revolution skin for Emma Frost in Marvel Rivals. Alongside the reveal, it was officially confirmed that Marvel Rivals Season 2: Hellfire Gala will launch on April 11, introducing a variety of new content to the hero shooter.
April 3
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals has officially unveiled its second season, Hellfire Gala, through a new trailer on the game's YouTube channel. Set on the living island of Krakoa, the season features a clash between heroes and waves of androids. The gala is hosted by new playable hero Emma Frost, while Ultron—another upcoming addition to the roster—leads a takeover attempt as the season’s main antagonist.
March 25
⚫︎ As part of the ongoing Marvel Rivals Season 1 update, NetEase has introduced a surprise April Fool’s Easter egg to the Galacta’s Cosmic Quest board game event. The special reward is only available to players who have already completed the activity. While details remain under wraps, NetEase teased that the prize offers a “hidden twist surprise,” with more expected to be revealed later this week.
March 17
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals director Guangyun Chen confirmed in an interview with PC Gamer that Seasons 3 and 4 are already fully designed and currently in “intensive development.” According to Chen, production is progressing smoothly, with significant resources allocated to expanding the game’s content, including new characters, maps, and gameplay modes.
Since its launch in December 2024, Marvel Rivals has quickly built momentum. Season 1 introduced the Fantastic Four as playable heroes and added multiple new maps—Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown, Sanctum Sanctorum, and Central Park—alongside the Doom Match and three additional game modes.
March 13
⚫︎ Human Torch, one of the weaker heroes in Marvel Rivals according to RivalsMeta, is receiving key improvements in the latest balance patch released Wednesday. Previously struggling with a low win rate similar to Black Widow, Human Torch’s adjustments aim to improve his effectiveness in solo engagements.
March 12
⚫︎ NetEase Games has released patch notes for the upcoming Marvel Rivals Version 20250314 update, scheduled to launch on March 13. The update aims to resolve ongoing terrain glitches, fix bugs related to specific hero abilities, and introduce a new Twitch Drop reward for players.
⚫︎ A new skin for Adam Warlock is now available for players as a Twitch drop, alongside a new spray and namepeplay, all earnable by watching official Marvel Rivals streams and reaching milestone watch times.
March 5
⚫︎ NetEase has discussed the possibility of future crossover events with other properties, but fans prefer more comic book and movie skins.
February 26
⚫︎ Following an hour-long server fix that brought down the game's servers, Marvel Rivals players were gifted 200 units as compensation, even for those who were not playing while the maintenance was underway.
⚫︎ As Marvel Rivals' smurfing issues reach an all-time high, players have come together to formulate solutions to one of the biggest hurdles preventing newcomers from fully experiencing the game's ranked mode. Current fan ideas point toward Overwatch 2 and Fortnite-style placement matches, preventing players who played too well up until their 10th account level from entering the game's lowest ranks.
February 24
⚫︎ Rumors regarding Marvel Rivals' supposed pre-release cancellation began to fly amidst news of its recent layoffs; rumors put to rest by NetEase CEO William Ding, who confirmed that the company and Disney have had a close relationship since 2017.
February 21
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals amasses 40 million players since its launch as NetEase continues to deny allegations of it abandoning western studios after it laid off a number of developers from the game's US development team.
February 20
⚫︎ Also in following NetEase's recent layoff contreversy with its design team for Marvel Rivals, Baldur's Gate 3's publishing director Michael Douse shared his insight on how studios could stop botching their own launches, calling for devs to set clear expectations for players before the game is out.
⚫︎ After a recent controversy surrounding the laying off of several Seattle-based team members from their design team, NetEase has finally responded, calling the decision a difficult decision
made to optimise development efficiency
.
February 19
⚫︎ A new map based on Central Park is revealed alongside hero spotlights for The Thing and Human Torch for the game's upcoming Season 1.5 update.
February 18
⚫︎ Even with the massive success of the Marvel Rivals launch and consistent high playerbase and profit, the Seattle division of the development was unexpectedly laid off by Netease, bringing out confusion amongst the fanbase and the developers themselves.
February 11
⚫︎ Not even 24 hours after announcing an upcoming mid-season rank reset, NetEase revert back the intent due to overwhelming fan complaints.
February 10
⚫︎ A blog post update by NetEase announce the incoming mid-season rank reset, which will be proceed by major balance changes for majority of heroes, alongside the eventual addition of two new heroes: The Human Torch, and The Thing.
February 6
⚫︎ Technical lead designer Ruan Weikang spoke how the development team faced their first major technical challenge in implementing the destructible environments found in-game, where they had to account for which heroes were destroying them, and how to apply consistency for the rubble to fall in order to stay competetively neutral.
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals technical lead designer Ruan Weikang revealed in an interview how Dr. Strange's portals had the development team struggling to implement them. He cites previous famous portals in video games, such as Valve's Portal series, alongside as the multiplayer shooter Splitgate, as very different because they utilized flat surfaces. Dr. Strange, on the other hand, had to have a free-hovering portal that can be placed anywhere in various orientations.
January 24, 2025
⚫︎ Due to the climate of dataminers and leakers in the current games industry, Marvel Rivals director Thaddeus Sasser had previously explained that those looking for unofficial leaks in the game's files will find no value. As it turns out, the team has been planting fake fake character files to confuse any potential dataminers, preventing any data breaches or surprises to be ruined.
January 22
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals has released a new gamemode for its Spring Festival events, of which a game where players play with a giant ball to score against the other team bears a heavy resemblance to Overwatch's Lucioball.
January 15
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals director Guangyun Chen states in an interview their goals for the game, where they hope to balance the competetive side and scene of the title but not diminish the fun it brings to quick player for casual players. They seek to take reference from past titles who have been able to healthily merge balance changes needed for the competetie esports scene, all the while remaining fun for those regular players.
January 14
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals has announced with the successful launch of Season 1 that the game will be receiving a new hero every 6 weeks. A full season was said to span 2 months, meaning that each season will have two new heroes for the community to play with. Season 1 is a special case where two heroes were released per half, with Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman in the first, and are proceeded by Human Torch and the Thing in the latter half.
January 13
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals developers had forbade the use of mods for the game, where players were uploading their own custom skins into the game that were eligible for online play, preventing modified character files from being allowed in matches. However, the modding community persisted and found workarounds to the ‘mod ban,’ where the process only takes "extra steps to pull off."
January 13
⚫︎ With the arrival of the game’s first major launch, Season 1, which brought forth the Fantastic Four, Marvel Rivals broke its own massive peak count by achieving over 600k peak players.
January 6
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals developers underwent a massive banning spree to eradicate cheaters from their game. However, they unknowingly punished innocents as well due to playing on non-Windows operating systems such as Linux or the Steam Deck. They were quick to reverse the bans and immediately issued apologies for the affected players.
January 6
⚫︎ After Season 0 wrapped up for the holiday season, Marvel Rivals released a new trailer for Season 1, featuring the new lineup of heroes arriving to the game. In lieu of Dr. Doom being the game’s main antagonist, the Fantastic Four now seek to put a stop to both versions of him as the four superheroes join the fray.
2024
December 17
⚫︎ As the holiday season drew closer, Marvel Rivals released special winter-themed costumes and game modes. Heroes such as Jeff, Venom, Groot, and Rocket were all showcased with their Christmas-themed outfits.
December 11
⚫︎ While Marvel Rivals launched to huge success, its predecessor in the hero-shooter genre, Overwatch 2, sank to its lowest reported player count on Steam. Whereas Marvel Rivals continued to consistently reach over 200,000 players, Overwatch 2 dropped down to less than 17,000 players.
December 9
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals, alongside Path of Exile 2, both released near each other and overtook the gaming world by storm, setting record high player counts for both games of different genres. Marvel Rivals achieved a staggering 480k+ peak concurrent player count, whereas Path of Exile 2 rose further above with over 570k peak players.
December 6
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals announced a Fornite collaboration wherein players from the Epic Games Launcher can complete a mission to avail the Rivaled Sailer Glider in-game.
July 25
⚫︎ Marvel Rivals commenced its beta before release and immediately overtook the player numbers of their of rival game– Concord– by a large margin. Both being live-service hero shooters, Concord opened up to a measly peak player count of around 2,000+ players throughout its beta periods, whereas Marvel Rivals quickly rose to 50,000+ within two days.
