Marvel Rivals landed with a wide roster, boasting 33 heroes when it launched on December 5. Just over a month later, the hero shooter's received two additions to its lineup, thanks to the arrival of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman with the advent of Season 1. NetEase has set an impressive pace—and according to game director Guangyun Chen, the studio has no intention of slowing down.
In an interview with Metro, Chen discussed the reception to the game's release and where NetEase's philosophy stands for game balancing and content updates going forward. When asked about the rate at which the studio is planning to add new heroes, Chen said we can expect to see newcomers on the Marvel Rivals roster as often as every month and a half.
"Every season, we'll be rolling out fresh seasonal stories, new maps, and new heroes. We'll actually be breaking down each season into two halves," Chen said. "The length of one season is three months. And for each half of the season, we will introduce a new hero."
If NetEase manages to maintain that cadence, Marvel Rivals could have more than 40 playable heroes by this time next year. It's a blistering tempo, to the point that I'm worried for the artists, designers, and programmers who'll have to pull it off. As a point of comparison, Overwatch 2 has only achieved a roster of 42 playable heroes after more than eight years of adding to the original selection of Overwatch characters.
NetEase does benefit from having the Marvel universe to work with. Adapting a comic book character's established power set into a playable set of abilities is a lighter lift than building a character concept from scratch. I wonder how sustainable that rapidly-expanding roster will be, though, especially as it relates to monetization and player investment. Cosmetics are the lifeblood of a free-to-play shooter, but will NetEase be able to pump out enough cool skins for its dozens of characters that players won't feel like their favorites are being overlooked?
As an added wrinkle: Even a universe as big as Marvel's only has so many recognizable A-listers in it. Despite how it might feel sometimes, there's a finite number of Avengers and X-men. At some point, NetEase will have to start digging deeper in the barrel, and those heroes might not have the same broad appeal. Still, if NetEase ever adds Beta Ray Bill, I'll be one of the dozens celebrating.
As for which types of heroes NetEase will prioritize, Chen says it'll depend on where the game's at. Asked how the studio will decide how to distribute new heroes between the Duelist, Vanguard, and Support roles, Chen said hero additions "will be guided by the overall gameplay experience or theme that we want to create for each season."
