Marvel Rivalstook the world by storm in December of last year, quickly becoming one of the most popular multiplayer games to play, and according to a new report, a huge chunk ofOverwatch 2players made that jump over toRivals.Marvel Rivalsfeatures objective-based multiplayer gameplay and even shares similar UI elements withOverwatch, so the two games are often compared. Both are also free-to-play, and with the huge pulling power of the Marvel IP, it’s not surprising that a lot ofOverwatch 2players dropped the game forMarvel Rivalsinstead.
According to a gaming industry report fromNewZoo(viaInsider Gaming),45% ofOverwatch 2players who stopped playing the game in December jumped over to playMarvel Rivals.Overwatch 2hit a player-peak when it was in early access in 2022, and the game’s player count progressively got lower, became stagnant in 2024, and then lowered even more whenMarvel Rivalsreleased. Even though it came out in the last month of the year,Marvel Rivalswas one of the most played games of 2024.
Is There Room For Two Popular Hero Shooters?
Maybe Marvel Rivals Is The Overwatch Killer
Successful new games that are similar to another existing game are often coined as the “killer” of whatever franchise had popularity first.Overwatchtook the world by storm in 2016and became one of the biggest hero shooters of all time, and untilMarvel Rivals, it faced little competition from similar hero shooters. It had its share of issues, such as someretailers still selling copies of the firstOverwatcheven afterOverwatch 2fully replaced the original game.Marvel Rivals, however, had little controversygoing into its Season 2, and its free-to-play model is often praised.
Marvel Rivals: Every Season 2 Battle Pass Reward & How to Get Them
The Season 2 Battle Pass for Marvel Rivals includes many new cosmetics you can earn, including new skins, emotes, nameplates, and valuable currency.
There definitely is room for both games to co-exist, and both do appeal to many players. Some preferOverwatch 2’s first-person gameplay and original characters, while some people prefer the third-person gameplay and established Marvel characters and lore offered inMarvel Rivals. But given the immense popularity and consistent updates forMarvel Rivals, and withdozens of characters leaked and rumoredto look forward to, the idea ofMarvel Rivalsbeing the “Overwatchkiller” isn’t far-fetched for most people, soit isn’t hard to see why so many people jumped toMarvel Rivals.
Our Take: It’s Not Impossible For Overwatch 2 To Get Back Its Players
Overwatch Went Unrivaled For A Long Time
Marvel Rivalssaw a drop in its player countback in March, but the game is still greatly outpacingOverwatch 2and other hero shooters. In a recent earnings call, NetEase Games stated it doesn’t actually seeOverwatch 2as a direct competitor, saying,“Both Marvel Rivals and Overwatch are excellent superhero shooters and are both well-designed and supported by outstanding development teams. We believe the market is large enough to accommodate two excellent games.”
Due toOverwatchbeing the undisputed king of the hero-shooter genre for a long time, and withMarvel Rivalscoming along, the idea of a different third-person hero-shooter featuring Marvel characters naturally seemed appealing to most hero-shooter fans. Both games will have their own dedicated fans, and there will be fans that play both games. It isn’t much of a question thatMarvel Rivalsis the top dog of hero shooters right now, butOverwatch 2or another game could always sweep in and throw all the player numbers up in the air.
