NetEase to Continue Bringing Little-Known Characters to Marvel Rivals

At GDC 2025, Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo shared plans for the development of Marvel Rivals. He noted that the creators of the title will continue to expand the roster not only with popular heroes, but also with less popular characters, such as Jeff the Land Shark and Squirrel Girl. This balance allows you to maintain the recognition of the game, where 70% of the roster is made up of iconic characters, and the remaining 30% bring fresh ideas to the gameplay.

Before getting into the game, each hero undergoes a thorough selection. The developers study their history in comics, pass on the data to the designers, and then adapt the abilities with the help of experts in the Marvel universe. NetEase is betting on a variety of playstyles and avoiding similarities between characters in order to attract the widest possible audience.

It seems that this concept has paid off – since December 2024, the audience of Marvel Rivals has crossed the 40 million player mark on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series.