Marvel Rivals Devs Talk Player Accessibility And Why The Term “Rivals” Is So Important

Back in March this year, NetEase Games and Marvel Games officially revealed the team-based PvP run-and-gun, Marvel Rivals. The upcoming title will feature 6v6 battles and, like Fortnite, will be completely free for shooter fans to play. Since its unveiling, some have said that it looks like another Overwatch “knock-off”, with industry insider Tom Henderson even getting in on the action by saying, “That new Overwatch Marvel DLC looks pretty cool.”

Hoping to tap into something special when it releases, Danny Koo, Marvel Games executive producer; Paul Ella, head of production for NetEase; and Thad Sasser, game director of Marvel Rivals discuss how the game will be accessible for those unfamiliar with hero shooters and also the true meaning of the word “Rivals”.

In an interview with Game Rant where the Marvel Rivals devs talked about a host of topics, including how they translated the character’s abilities into the game, creating powers and the difficulty markers for each character, they also spoke about the term of the word ‘Rivals’ and what it meant, as well as making sure the game was compatible with players new to the genre.

There are plenty of people who haven’t played popular hero-shooters like Apex Legends, Valorant, or Overwatch so tipping into Marvel Rivals may feel like a huge challenge into something they’re unsure about. Marvel Rivals’ game director, Thad Sasser, said that this particular accessibility area of the game is an important one for the team.

“Accessibility is a big point for us. We have a shooting range like a tutorial area where you can learn the characters and their powers,” Sasser continues. “You can start to play them in a safe environment. You can create a custom match with your friends just to get a sense of how two characters might fight against each other or even how three characters might be in that same boat. There are a lot of ways for players to learn and share their knowledge.”

For any Marvel fan jumping into the game, they naturally want to experience environments and characters they are familiar with from the get-go, and the same goes for those new to the genre. Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo states that the term ‘Rival’ is also an important term for how you play the game because it can mean against or the same side but being able to have fun and make new friends is the goal.

“The term “Rivals” is very important. Rivals can be on the same side or on the opposite side. At Marvel, we have been wanting to do a team-based superhero game like this. We’ve seen all our single-player titles, but this is our first foray into team-based multiplayer,” said Koo. “We want players to come together, make new friends, cross boundaries, have fun together, and share that same passion for the Marvel brand.”

Marvel Rivals is still early in development, so no set release date has been revealed yet.

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