Marvel Rivals Developers Announce 10 Million Players Worldwide In Just 72 Hours

Published Dec 9, 2024

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Soon after the launch of Marvel Rivals, a new 6v6 hero shooter featuring new interpretations of iconic Marvel characters, the game has proven to be a standout success, contrasting some other recent releases in the same genre. Within a few short days of release, Marvel Rivals has already reached some major milestones in of player population, and while the game's community has some complaints, it's been a very strong start for a live-service title.

As announced via a post on X from @MarvelRivals, Marvel Rivals has managed to reach 10 million players worldwide within 72 hours of launch, making it one of the most popular games currently on the market. Notably, Marvel Rivals is also topping player charts on Steam, with a peak of just over 480,000 players, with audiences playing on consoles or other PC launchers presumably making up the remainder of the game's broad audience.

Marvel Rivals Has Taken The World By Storm

Marvel Rivals Has Quickly Become One Of The Most Popular Games On The Market

With 10 million players just three days after launch, Marvel Rivals is enjoying success on a level that's almost unprecedented outside massive, global hits like Overwatch - which also happens to be one of the game's main competitors. Though the game's Steam player base is a relatively small portion of its overall audience, Marvel Rivals is one of the top five games currently on the platform, which recently helped push Steam to record-breaking player numbers.

While the benefit of being able to play iconic characters like Spider-Man and Wolverine is a major contributor to the popularity of Marvel Rivals, players also have plenty of praise for the game as a whole, with players on X and Reddit praising the game's community, artstyle, and gameplay. Another positive for Marvel Rivals is that the game's servers have remained relatively stable despite high player counts, leading to an uncommonly smooth launch for a major multiplayer game, which can often experience difficulties under high load.

The Hype Is Real, But Some Fans Of Marvel Rivals Wish For Fixes

Despite A Strong Start, Marvel Rivals Still Has Some Technical And Balance Issues To Sort Out

However, although Marvel Rivals is off to a very strong start, fans still have some notable complaints for the developers to address. While most players report that their online experience has been stable, there have been scattered reports of technical issues, with some players experiencing crashes, long loading times, or heavy frame drops while some abilities are being used. More subjectively, some complaints regarding hero balance have also begun to crop up, with players especially singling out Iron Fist as being overpowered relative to the rest of the cast.

Other Games Should Learn From Marvel Rivals' New Battle

Marvel Rivals is already making waves in the hero shooter scene, with this minor change giving the game a huge advantage over the competition.

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For a hero shooter launching well after the genre's boom following the original release of Overwatch, Marvel Rivals is currently enjoying a massive amount of success, having quickly become one of the most popular games currently out. While the game's popularity can be expected to settle after the launch hype has died down, it's still an incredibly strong start for any live-service game, and hopefully, future updates to Marvel Rivals will help the game retain a large audience.