Marvel Rivals landed with a large roster, boasting 33 heroes when it launched on December 5. Just over a month later, the hero shooter’s obtained two additions to its lineup, due to the arrival of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman with the appearance of Season 1. NetEase has set a powerful tempo—and in keeping with recreation director Guangyun Chen, the studio has no intention of slowing down.
In an interview with Metro, Chen mentioned the reception to the sport’s launch and the place NetEase’s philosophy stands for recreation balancing and content material updates going ahead. When requested concerning the price at which the studio is planning so as to add new heroes, Chen mentioned we are able to anticipate to see newcomers on the Marvel Rivals roster as typically as each month and a half.
“Every season, we’ll be rolling out contemporary seasonal tales, new maps, and new heroes. We’ll really be breaking down every season into two halves,” Chen mentioned. “The size of 1 season is three months. And for every half of the season, we are going to introduce a brand new hero.”
If NetEase manages to take care of that cadence, Marvel Rivals might have greater than 40 playable heroes by this time subsequent 12 months. It’s a blistering tempo, to the purpose that I’m fearful for the artists, designers, and programmers who’ll have to drag it off. As some extent of comparability, Overwatch 2 has solely achieved a roster of 42 playable heroes after greater than eight years of including to the unique number of Overwatch characters.
NetEase does profit from having the Marvel universe to work with. Adapting a comic book guide character’s established energy set right into a playable set of skills is a lighter carry than constructing a personality idea from scratch. I’m wondering how sustainable that rapidly-expanding roster might be, although, particularly because it pertains to monetization and participant funding. Cosmetics are the lifeblood of a free-to-play shooter, however will NetEase be capable of pump out sufficient cool skins for its dozens of characters that gamers will not really feel like their favorites are being missed?
As an added wrinkle: Even a universe as huge as Marvel’s solely has so many recognizable A-listers in it. Despite the way it may really feel generally, there is a finite variety of Avengers and X-men. At some level, NetEase must begin digging deeper within the barrel, and people heroes won’t have the identical broad attraction. Still, if NetEase ever provides Beta Ray Bill, I’ll be one of many dozens celebrating.
As for which varieties of heroes NetEase will prioritize, Chen says it will depend upon the place the sport’s at. Asked how the studio will determine the best way to distribute new heroes between the Duelist, Vanguard, and Support roles, Chen mentioned hero additions “might be guided by the general gameplay expertise or theme that we need to create for every season.”
