Marvel Rivals is big because of this one card Netease played right.

It is one of the hardest things in game development to understand what exactly the player wants out of an upcoming title. Fortunately, this is a code that Netease Games was easily able to crack with Marvel Rivals thanks to the pre-existing history and background of every single character inside the game.

Marvel Rivals is popping off because of its already popular characters | Netease Games

It is not easy to make a game using characters from Marvel, and many have come and tried before. However, Rivals truly spices things up by taking the immersiveness to another level and delivering to players what they want, proving that Netease Games plays their cards right when taking inspiration from the MCU.

MCU and Marvel Rivals: How Netease had the easiest cash in of all time

The game has many immersive elements from the MCU | Netease Games

For those having a hard time understanding the difference, MCU stands for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is really the more famous adaptation, relying on movies to cover a great audience and popularize the comic characters.

Undoubtedly, Marvel wouldn’t be the giant it is today without the cinematic adaptation of its characters. The movies have also given many iconic moments and have shown what it feels like when characters are brought to life. Sharing how the studio wanted to make use of these moments, Marvel Rivals’ Technical Lead Designer Ruan Weikang revealed the following in a developer interview via Unreal Engine.

We’ve also focused on capturing iconic moments that resonate with fans, transforming memorable scenes into playable experiences. Doctor Strange’s signature portals and Spider-Man’s web-swinging mechanics exemplify this approach, delivering both authentic character representation and engaging gameplay dynamics. While implementing these features presents significant technical and balance challenges, they’re essential for creating an immersive Marvel universe experience.

Weikang ultimately reveals how it is these iconic moments that help reel in the fans, as they relate to it more than anything else. Furthermore, as fun as adapting these moments into a playable experience seems, it is a plethora of challenges to get through, especially on the development side of things.

Why Marvel Rivals keeps winning and what it needs to do more

Marvel Rivals can keep introducing characters till forever | Netease Games

Lady Luck has been good with Marvel Rivals up until now, and if Netease continues to play their cards right, who knows how big the game will end up being a year from now?

As the industry was just recovering from the loss of Overwatch and was tired with mid-entries such as Sony’s Concord, Marvel Rivals entered the market at the perfect time, capturing millions of players at once. There are only a few things that the brains behind the game can continue doing from now on to ensure the success stays stable and we don’t get a repeat of what happened with Blizzard’s own hero-shooter.

To stay relevant, Rivals can essentially keep introducing popular characters from the Marvel universe, which should not pose a problem for the longest time possible as the list of heroes not yet in the game is neverending. Furthermore, the game can also introduce more game modes overtime, like this one Elden Ring-inspired game mode that would be many players’ wet dream come true.