History of Marvel Rivals in Timeline

Marvel Rivals, developed by NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games, is a free-to-play hero shooter released on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in December 2024, with a PlayStation 4 version following in September 2025. It boasts a roster of 43 characters from Marvel Comics and supports cross-play across all platforms. By February 2025, the game had amassed over 40 million players.

1989: In-Game Censorship

After the release of Marvel Rivals, in-game censorship of controversial terms, including "1989", caused speculation that the China-based developer NetEase blocked the phrases.

March 27, 2024: Game Announcement

On March 27, 2024, Marvel Games first announced Marvel Rivals through a trailer release.

August 5, 2024: Closed Beta Test End Date

The closed beta test for Marvel Rivals, which took place from July 23 to August 5, concluded on August 5, 2024, for both consoles and PC.

November 16, 2024: Voice Over Option Confirmation

On November 16, 2024, it was confirmed that Marvel Rivals features an option to select between English, Japanese or Mandarin voice overs at launch.

November 30, 2024: Launch Trailer Release

On November 30, 2024, less than a week before the game's release, the launch trailer for Marvel Rivals was released, showcasing 5 new playable heroes that would be added upon launch.

December 6, 2024: Marvel Rivals Release

On December 6, 2024, Marvel Rivals was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

PlayStation®5 Digital Edition (slim)

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December 2024: Winter Celebration Event

During December 2024 and continuing into January 2025, Marvel Rivals launched the first Winter Celebration event, featuring a 4v4 game mode similar to Splatoon, where players use Jeff the Land Shark to cover the most area on a map.

December 2024: Game's Revenue Ranking

For December 2024, Marvel Rivals was ranked 6th in the top 20 games by revenue in the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.

2024: Xbox Highest Single-Day Active Users

In 2024, Microsoft revealed that Marvel Rivals was one of the games on Xbox with the highest single-day active users.

January 10, 2025: Peak Concurrent Players on Steam

On January 10, 2025, Marvel Rivals peaked at 644,269 concurrent players on Steam.

January 2025: Revenue Ranking for January 2025

In January 2025, Marvel Rivals was ranked 5th in the top 20 games by revenue in the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.

January 2025: Winter Celebration Event (Continued)

The Winter Celebration event in Marvel Rivals continued into January 2025, featuring a 4v4 mode where players play as Jeff the Land Shark.

February 2025: Player Count Milestone

As of February 2025, Marvel Rivals reached over 40 million players.

February 2025: NetEase Lays Off Seattle Design Team

In February 2025, NetEase laid off their Seattle-based design team working on Marvel Rivals, including director Sasser, for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency.

February 2025: No Plans for PvE Mode

As of February 2025, the development team for Marvel Rivals had no current plans to introduce a player versus environment game mode, although they have experimented with additional gameplay modes.

April 2025: Map Count Update

As of April 2025, Marvel Rivals features 13 unique maps.

August 2025: Original Characters Introduction

In an August 2025 interview, Guangyun Chen mentioned NetEase was allowed to introduce original characters into Marvel Rivals, akin to Luna Snow from Marvel Future Fight.