Marvel Rivals is here and appears to be off to a very good start with six times as many players as Overwatch 2 had on Steam when the hero shooter replaced its predecessor in 2022. The luxury of being able to kick things off with a game filled with characters everyone already knows will do that, but Rivals will need to rely on more than world-famous IP if it wants to leave a lasting impression on the live service arena.
Rivals was compared to Concord over the summer while both games ran their open beta periods. That was extremely poor timing on Concord’s part and potentially something that played a role in its historical demise.
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Wolverine’s Marvel Rivals MCU Skin Includes A Deadpool & Wolverine MVP Animation
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Players flocked to the Rivals beta so that they could pit Spider-Man against Magneto and have Hulk and Storm team up. The IP recognition helped Rivals get a foot in the door that Concord wasn’t afforded, but Rivals’ devs already seem to understand the roster alone won’t be enough. It has satisfying gameplay, plenty of worthwhile unlockables, and an understanding of the live service landscape it needs to compete within. Concord had almost none of this.
Ever-Lasting Battle Passes
Even before its launch day earlier this week, Rivals knew it needed to be about more than big comic book names in a generic hero shooter. The biggest tell of all was the battle pass pledge made with just hours to go until launch. The devs revealed that purchased battle passes will never expire. That means even once a season has ended and a new battle pass is released, you will still be able to continue your progress on the old one and unlock everything it has to offer. Halo Infinite did the same.
For now, that’s not something other big live service games are willing to do. However, if Rivals becomes a major player alongside the likes of Overwatch, Apex Legends, and even Fortnite, it may be something studios change in the future. The more attention Rivals receives, the more people will look over and question why their battle passes don’t last forever.
Give The Players What They Want
Rivals’ devs have already forged a strong relationship with the game’s community to boot. Not only by being very open about what the game will include through social media, but also by seeking feedback via Discord, even before release. The devs asked players which heroes and villains they’d like to see in Rivals next with Ghost Rider and Deadpool winning out. Unlike the mysterious Fortnite polls that tend to be filled with characters like Mario, Charizard, and other skin ideas that will never make it into the game, the Rivals team included realistic potential additions, and judging by what I’ve seen so far, it’s feedback that will be taken on board and hopefully acted upon.
There have also been breadcrumbs hinting that Rivals might pull off a synergy with the MCU that Marvel’s Avengers never could. It might be wishful thinking on my part, but a datamine has already revealed there are plans to add the Fantastic Four in the future. Mr. Fantastic’s in-game look even leaked ahead of launch (and he looks real good). If the plan is to save their additions for when the Fantastic Four join the MCU next summer, and there’s continued communication between Disney and Netease so that sort of thing can keep happening, it will be a huge win for Rivals.
The Live Service Bus Isn’t Necessarily Full
For too long, it has felt as if studios have been developing live service games with blinders on. They see what’s working, turn that into an idea for their own game, and then take half a decade to develop it, all while ignoring how the live service sphere changes during that time, and it’s changing constantly.
The team behind Rivals hasn’t done that, and with almost a century’s worth of iconic characters at its disposal, if there was one team that might have assumed it could get away with ignoring the live service world around it, it’s this one.
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!
- Released
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December 6, 2024