During Summer Game Gest 2024, I chatted with some of the team behind Netease’s highly anticipated hero shooter Marvel Rivals. We discussed the decision to make a hero shooter, why they’re launching with these specific characters, what universe the game takes place in, and much more.
In 2024, it’s very clear that hero shooters are attempting to become more popular again. Recently, Sony announced Concord during its State of Play, and not too long ago, Disney released Star Wars Hunter. When asked why Marvel decided to follow this trend, the executive producer at Marvel Games, Danny Koo, simply said, “Have you played any Marvel hero shooters?”
Behind the Scenes: Marvel’s Vision for a Hero Shooter
Koo then went on to further elaborate by saying this was something Marvel wanted to do for a while now:
“For the longest time at Marvel, we always wanted a multiplayer team-based game. We have a lot of single-player games that is critically acclaimed. But we have never ever brought everyone together to play a team-based PVP.”
Koo went on to say that they partnered with Netease rather than another studio because they shared the same passion as they did at Marvel. Head of Production at Marvel Rivals, Paul Ella, teased a bit about how they plan on releasing content post-launch.
“We have a clear understanding of what we want to do in the future. I want to be clear that we will be releasing our roadmap so that we have full transparency with our players.”
Of course, this is a comic-book game. That said, it would only make sense to have characters such as Groot and Rocket work well together. But a few oddballs were thrown into the game, such as Penny Parker, who plays as a tank, or Magik, who’s more of a DPS character. Koo went on to explain why the studio went with lesser-known Marvel characters.
“Marvel Rivals roster consists of roughly 70 percent of the heroes and supervillains majority from the MCU, TV shows all the comics. Now the rest is either a curveball [like Penny Parker]. Or deep cuts like Magik, not a lot of people know about Magik.”
Meet the Heroes and Villains of Marvel Rivals
The idea of introducing more characters like this is to encourage players to research them so they can better understand them. But Koo did go on to tease that other characters could potentially come in down the line.
“Now you see you have the Avengers, the Guardians, the Spidey characters, and Namor from the Fantastic Four franchises. You know [other characters like] Moon Knight and all these other magic stuff. Like we haven’t talked about all these characters, It could possibly do that, but we don’t want to do those obvious ones. That’s why we do not even have Moon Knight right now. We want a diverse cast because this game is global, and we want the characters to appeal, and people can relate and gravitate towards.”
The Rivals Universe: A New Marvel Narrative
Giant comic fans such as myself may be pleased to hear that the universe in which Marvel Rivals takes place is its own. It doesn’t have a name like 616 or any other number, but Koo revealed that the universe’s name is simply the Rivals Universe. He further went on to explain the story behind it.
“So, because Dr. Doom and Dr. Doom 2099 discovered this little thing called Chronovial, This is a matter of time. It’s expanded time and it causes chaos, causes a time stream. So a new word is getting created over colliding together creating new stuff. So that’s why you can see it’s ruled by Loki, and then Tokyo 2099 somehow is ruled by the spider-verse. So all new lore with familiar characters that you’re used to but the Marvel Rival spin to it.”
As seasons go on, players can unravel what’s going on by listening to characters chat with one another or even by looking at set places around. As time passes, more things will change as the story evolves.
Netease aims to stand out from other games through its art style. Koo explained that the studio purposely went for an anime aesthetic so that people would know that what they’re looking at is Marvel Rivals.
“We want Marvel Rivals to kind of stand out since it’s a PC console title. At glance, you can tell, ‘Okay, that’s Marvel Rivals.’ And Netease Games’ main dev team is also from the East. So we want to marry the Eastern art style and the best of the West and clash it together. With all this energetic, you know, superhero energy and vibrant color, and that’s why this game is so anime. It’s kind of a throwback to the old Marvel fighting games. It’s very flashy, very dynamic, and this is kind of like paying homage to the anime style of things.”
As of now, Marvel Rivals doesn’t have a release date. But it’ll be playable on PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S when it drops.
