This is an IGN opinion piece from Carlos Morales, who is a massive fan of Marvel whether it’s comics, movies, or video games. He’s sunk well over 1000 hours into Marvel Rivals. Marvel Rivals Season 10 is now available, and it’s coming at a time of crisis for NetEase’s premiere hero shooter. What was once a smash hit success on launch back in December of 2024 has now become a confused mess of developer priorities as more and more players drop off in favor of games with a clearer sense of direction. Making a live-service game work long term is a feat only a handful of dev teams have managed to achieve, and during its first year it seemed like Rivals was set to join that club. But between consistent balancing problems and a lack of integrity in competitive mode, NetEase’s penchant for predatory monetization creeping into the store, and controversies around character cosmetics that some players believe to be racially motivated, Rivals has found itself floundering when it should be hitting new heights. These problems can’t be something that Marvel and Disney are too happy about, especially since Avengers: Doomsday, which is almost certain to be a financial success, is only a few short months away and could generate a large influx of new players. Let’s take a look at what’s gone wrong with Marvel Rivals, and what NetEase needs to do to turn things around. B is for Balance To say that Rivals has had a recurring problem with balancing is something of an understatement. Although the game receives balance changes with each half-season, including a new patch that updated more than half the cast to start off Season 10, Rivals has often struggled to create a battlefield that feels entirely fair. Not that there’s anything wrong with a casual “anything goes” mentality to game design, but NetEase clearly wants Rivals to be a competitive game – it’s heavily pushing into the e-sports and tournament space, to the point of clogging up the main menu with tabs dedicated to those elements. Yet if NetEase really wants Rivals to be that kind of game, it needs to take a hard look at not just the current state of its characters, but its entire content release strategy. Starting with Season 3, Rivals implemented an accelerated release schedule, with seasons shortened to two months and one hero released every month (Gorr being the only new hero in Season 10 is set to be an exception). This has resulted in many new heroes being released seemingly without being adequately playtested, with additions like Daredevil, Gambit, Elsa Bloodstone and Black Cat being utterly broken on release and needing multiple seasons worth of nerfs to get them even close to a reasonable state. The new team-up system introduced in Season 9 may have given most characters new tools, but it’s also snowballed the power creep to an outrageous degree, creating a battlefield littered with nonstop ability cooldowns and visual clutter instead of a meaningful neutral game. Compounding these problems are NetEase’s flawed matchmaking algorithm, which often results in stomps instead of engaging matches, and the developer’s refusal to add significant penalties for toxic behavior in competitive mode. While cheaters do receive account bans, throwers and leavers are only slapped on the wrist with 15 minute suspensions, which hardly deters bad actors. NetEase recently announced it will implement “stricter penalties” for repeat offenders, but didn’t offer any details beyond increasing the duration of suspensions. I know this is a free-to-play game that depends on players routinely purchasing battle passes and costume bundles to stay afloat, so NetEase likely doesn’t want to shut out paying customers, but the lack of integrity in ranked play is detrimental to the intended strategy for the game’s future. These problems have been so pronounced that many players on social media have even called for Zhiyong, the game’s lead combat designer, to be fired. While that may be several steps too far, such sentiments don’t materialize in a vacuum, and they’re only exacerbated by the game’s other issues, many of which stem from the cosmetics. Chronoverse Controversies As mentioned previously, I’m well aware that free-to-play games like Rivals need to make money in their costume shop. And to be fair to NetEase, the game has been quite generous with free costumes and in-game units through seasonal events. However, the game has also been mired in controversy both for the more aggressive monetization strategies (a problem endemic to other NetEase games) and the uneven distribution of costumes among the character roster. Gacha gambling events have become common for big skin releases, where players have a small chance of winning a full bundle by spending units to pop balloons containing individual items. This is a well-worn example of predatory monetization, luring players who might otherwise not have purchased a cosmetic with the potential to win something major for a fraction of the cost. That it’s a mechanic in a game where a large portion of the audience is presumably children is frankly reprehensible. Regarding distribution, while certain popular characters getting more costumes than others does make financial sense, the disparity has become more pronounced in recent seasons. It’s been frustrating for players who feel that the devs are disrespecting comic book icons with decades of history. To use a recent example, the game’s incredibly popular Summer Swimsuit line of costumes caused an online firestorm when a swimsuit outfit for Storm was revealed to be of Epic rarity, when virtually every other swimsuit skin was a higher-grade Legendary. That Storm has received so few costumes despite being in the game since launch caused a contingent of fans to accuse NetEase of racial discrimination. The backlash was so fierce that Danny Koo, an executive producer at Marvel Games who oversees Rivals, was even called “Danny Koo Klux Klan” by fans on social media. The controversy is a result of how little attention the game has given to its Black heroes, especially in comparison to white and Asian dev favorites like Psylocke, Invisible Woman, and Luna Snow. In response to the Storm situation, NetEase had to issue a statement saying her swimsuit costume would be upgraded to Legendary status and that Storm would receive more Legendary skins in the future. But that things even got that bad in the first place shows how aggrieved the game’s Black fanbase has become. That’s not even getting into the game’s almost non-existent Latino representation. While some may point to Namor, he’s more Indigenous Mesoamerican than Latino, and so the first proper Latin character in the game was not a superhero like Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider, Miles Morales, or one of the incarnations of White Tiger, but instead the villainous Hood, who is white in the comics and is portrayed as a sex pest in the game. Not great! Redemption for Rivals? I want to make something clear: I love Marvel Rivals. I’ve been playing since the closed beta and it’s been my multiplayer game of choice ever since launch. It’s great fun as a casual game with friends, and I’ve climbed competitive mode to Celestial rank in several different seasons. I think the core gameplay is fantastic, and that the game mostly does justice to the cast and mythology of the Marvel universe. All that said, its many problems have eroded its positive aspects, and I believe NetEase needs to make an attitude adjustment if it wants to get the game back on track. What does that look like? I have some suggestions. First, the balancing strategy needs to be reworked. The point of making balance changes is to eventually get to a place where you don’t need them anymore, so instead of making sweeping changes to “shake things up,” identify overpowered heroes and actually do something that permanently keeps them in line. The content schedule needs to be slowed down so that new heroes and modes can be adequately balanced and playtested before they’re released to the public. It would also be prudent for the next few seasons’ worth of new heroes to be exclusively in the tank and support classes, since the game is overflowing with DPS heroes. And while the new team-up system introduced in Season 9 was a needed shot in the arm, the numerous powerful cooldowns associated with team-ups definitely still need some tweaks to encourage more neutral gameplay. Stricter penalties for toxic behavior in ranked need to be implemented. I would strongly suggest seasonal bans for repeat throwers and leavers so that ruining match integrity risks actual consequences. As for cosmetics, the gacha events should be retired. Buying a costume for my favorite hero (it’s Scarlet Witch, if you must know) should be something exciting instead of something frustrating. Focus on adapting fan favorite looks from the comics for underperforming heroes in the store. And while I know that certain heroes keep the lights on, consider giving one of the other characters a chance before greenlighting five more Legendaries for Luna Snow. Spreading the love around more when it comes to costume bundles will almost certainly pay off in the long run because you never know what untapped markets are just waiting to jump in. I won’t pretend that fixing the game’s problems is as easy as I’m making it sound, but these steps would do a lot to help restore its reputation. NetEase is clearly capable of listening to its fanbase since it has done so many times in the past, and Avengers: Doomsday is right around the corner, so now is the time to make the changes the game needs to stay relevant in the market. Marvel Rivals may have lost its way, but that doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause. Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.

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