Summary
Netease is attempting to prove there’s still room for a new live service game in 2024, launchingMarvel Rivalslate last Thursday, or early Friday morning depending on where you are. While it’ll be a while before we find out whether Rivals has legs, we already know it has hands with the hero shooter attractingten million playersduring its launch weekend.
Rivals immediately demonstrated it had people’s interest byracking up six times the Steam numbers of Overwatch 2on its opening day. It continued to wow on the numbers front asit peaked at almost half a million players on Steam. There aremore than 250,000 playing right nowand it’s a Monday morning. No, I’m not jealous, why do you ask?
Rivals' impressive Steam numbers are only half the story, though. In fact, they’re only five percent of the story. The team behind Rivals revealed via the game’s Twitter account thatten million of youhave taken Rivals for a spin during its first three days. That’s across PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.
Ten Million People Played Marvel Rivals During Its Opening Weekend
Here’s Hoping Lots Of You Stick Around
It was almost inevitable that a free-to-play game available on multiple platforms filled with characters known the world over would be a hit out of the gate. However, you’d have to think10 million players in 72 hoursis a milestone even Netease has been shocked by during Rivals’s opening weekend.
That ten million people have played Rivals during the past three days makes the lack of issues the live service game has suffered even more impressive. Usually, even the biggest studios have some teething problems when they release a game like this, particularly if millions of players pour in as soon as the doors open. As far as I can tell, there have been almost no complaints about Rivals' performance.
No, all of the complaining has been saved for Rivals' adorable little Land Shark, Jeff. While there haven’t been problems with performance, there will be balancing to account for as the game progresses, and Netease’s first port of call may well be Jeff. The community seems to be split betweenthose who hate Jeff due to him being overpoweredand those who love the bubble-blowing shark because, well, just look at him.
Savvy Jeff mains can swallow up enemies and spit them off the edge of the map which, after it happens a few times in one match, gets pretty annoying. I say leave Jeff alone and nerf Iron Fist. He’s way too overpowered and doesn’t have the cuteness to back it up.
Marvel Rivals
WHERE TO PLAY
Marvel Rivals is a Super Hero Team-Based PVP Shooter! Assemble an all-star Marvel squad, devise countless strategies by combining powers to form unique Team-Up skills and fight in destructible, ever-changing battlefields across the continually evolving Marvel universe!
