There's no denying the success of Marvel Rivals. Besides just being a technically sound game, it also looks good and has a healthy content calendar. NetEase also gets a lot of praise for listening to the community, even if the community is wrong. With the hap in the hero shooter that Overwatch 2 left, it's not surprising that Marvel Rivals is thriving.
Overwatch 2 needs a competitor, not an executioner.
It's unfortunate that Overwatch 2 could never reach the heights that the original game did. Blizzard promised a lot before the launch, including the controversial PvE mode, but the state in which the game launched gave NetEase the perfect opportunity to eat its lunch. And, with so many players dropping off, the playerbase was ripe for the taking.
According to research done by NewZoo (via Insider Gaming), 45 percent of the players that fell off Overwatch 2 in December 2024 are now playing Marvel Rivals. Part of the study compared games that were losing players to similar games that were gaining them, and there seems to be a direct correlation between Overwatch 2 drop-offs and new Marvel Rivals players.
According to the study, Marvel Rivals accounted for seven percent...
