History of Marvel Rivals in Timeline

Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play hero shooter developed by NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games, released on December 6, 2024, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, with a PlayStation 4 version following on September 12, 2025. The game features cross-play and includes 42 characters from Marvel Comics. By February 2025, it had reached over 40 million players.

1989: In-Game Censorship

After release of Marvel Rivals, in-game censorship of controversial terms beyond China's borders was discussed. Censorship of "Winnie the Pooh" and other politically sensitive terms such as "1989" relating to Tiananmen Square suggested developer NetEase blocked these phrases. Attempts to use these banned messages in-game results in a "Text contains inappropriate content" message.

March 27, 2024: Game Announcement

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

August 5, 2024: End of Closed Beta Test

The closed beta test for Marvel Rivals concluded on August 5, 2024, for both consoles and PC.

November 16, 2024: Voice Over Options Confirmed

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, the launch trailer for Marvel Rivals was released, showcasing 5 new playable heroes.

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: Revenue Ranking

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

December 2024: Winter Celebration Event

In December 2024, Marvel Rivals introduced the Winter Celebration event, which included a 4v4 game mode similar to Splatoon where all the players play as Jeff the Land Shark.

2024: High Active Users on Xbox

Microsoft revealed in 2024 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

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

January 2025: Winter Celebration Event Extension

The Winter Celebration event, which started in December 2024, continued into January 2025 and featured a 4v4 game mode similar to Splatoon where all the 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 Layoffs

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

February 2025: No PvE Mode Planned

As of February 2025, there were no current plans to introduce a player versus environment game mode to Marvel Rivals.

April 2025: Map Count Update

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

August 2025: Original Characters Announcement

In an August 2025 interview, NetEase announced they were permitted by Marvel to introduce original characters to Marvel Rivals, similar to Luna Snow in Marvel Future Fight.