Marvel Rivals set the gaming world aflame when it arrived last December. Ahead of launch, it was praised for its gorgeously designed Marvel characters and absurdly high-quality graphics, and upon release an audience of millions quickly fell in love with NetEase’s excellent gameplay loop.
It was far from original, with its hero mechanics, map designs, and modes ripped from other games like Overwatch at every turn, plus the fact it was based on one of the most iconic pop culture franchises. But that it was such a tremendous free-to-play epic meant most of its shortcomings were easy to overlook. Throughout 2025, it has remained in the public eye through generous seasonal updates, new heroes, and skins so naughty they make even the most hardened of gooners blush.
Marvel Rivals was a hit, but like many blockbuster experiences, its honeymoon period has long since come to an end. Now, it’s just another game. But is that really a bad thing?
What Happened To Marvel Rivals?
Put simply, nothing happened to Marvel Rivals. It’s still trucking along nicely with tens of thousands of regular players on Steam and many more across PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Its average player count over on Steam sits at around 65,000, which isn’t dissimilar to heavy hitters like TF2 or Apex Legends. You can notice an obvious trend over the past several months of fair-weather players leaving it behind, but this is far from indicative of a dead game like many would like to claim.
This week I have seen a number of high-profile social media figures note that Marvel Rivals has lost over 85 percent of its audience in the past ten months. This is true. The millions who played at launch and stuck around for a little bit have long since walked away and aren’t very likely to return unless a major hero is introduced or an event takes place. That’s normality for most online shooters like this one. Launch is a huge event, and the months that follow see a hardcore community emerge that inevitably sticks around for years.
Battlefield 6 arrived last week and has also enjoyed millions of players jumping in across each of its available platforms. Queue systems have been set up to deal with the load as excitement reaches a fever pitch, but there will come a time when the majority of these people realise it has had its time as they move onto something else. Much like Marvel Rivals, I can see tens of thousands of regular players sticking around as occasional spikes take place with season updates, new maps, and unexpected surprises. That is how games of this ilk tend to work.
Why Are People Acting Like Marvel Rivals Is Dying?
Once upon a time, it seemed like Marvel Rivals was going to be the second coming of hero shooters and become one of the biggest games in the world. People loved Overwatch 2 initially, but felt like it strayed too far from the original’s greatness. Suddenly, here was a game with a lofty promise of looking and playing better than Blizzard’s fall from grace ever did.
During the opening months, it was immensely popular. Players couldn’t get enough and were blown away by the regular cadence of new heroes and obscenely good premium skins. But it is a shiny toy, and eventually the majority got bored or decided this game simply wasn’t right for them or didn’t fit into their lifestyle. I did exactly that, eventually returning to Overwatch as it represented a time investment I wanted so desperately to mean something.
Marvel Rivals losing millions of players over the course of 2025 isn’t symptomatic of it being a dead game, no matter how many may like to claim as such for clout. It might seem like an extraordinary drop considering the high numbers this game started out with, but there is nothing to worry about besides that. The hero shooter is settling into a rhythm of seasonal updates and new heroes that its regular audience can appreciate instead of trying to appeal to the masses. There might come a time when it suddenly explodes in popularity again, but boasting 70,000 daily players on a single platform is more than enough to stay afloat.
The conversation around Marvel Rivals right now is also an incredibly unhealthy one. ‘Dead game’ has become a meme in online circles because there is a sick joy associated with the high-profile failure of certain video games. How you should suddenly feel ashamed of once being into a specific experience and have no other option beyond cheering for its demise. It is fiercely hypocritical, with the majority of social media posts and headlines refusing to give context to Marvel Rivals losing this many players and what it actually means for the future.
Marvel Rivals is going to be fine. If anything, I’m excited to see how it evolves now that a smaller, more hardcore community has begun to form around it.
Marvel Rivals
Released
December 6, 2024
ESRB
T For Teen // Violence
Developer(s)
NetEase Games
Publisher(s)
NetEase Games
