There’s now an incredible rumor that NetEase is once again doing what Blizzard won’t.
RivalsLeaks shared this tidbit on Twitter:
“Potential PvE Mode for Marvel Rivals?
Some time ago, I was informed by a source that they had experienced a PvE mode in the game. Today, @RivalsInfo found a tag suggesting PvE might still be in development.
It’s unclear if this feature has been scrapped or if it’s planned for a future update.”
Of course, the reason this would be a big deal is Blizzard famously promised extensive PvE content for Overwatch 2, and then failed to deliver as they scaled those promises back. While Overwatch 2 is getting some PvE content now, this narrative has worked against Blizzard’s favor because they pitched this to justify the closure of the original Overwatch.
And Overwatch 2 does not get a favorable comparison to Marvel Rivals. NetEase has assembled two teams in China and America to collaborate on making a game that will appeal to both markets, and also in favor of Japan. As such, the teams have done their best to make choices that will please as many gamers in these different markets as possible, and we have been seeing that has been incredibly successful.
Some gamers may make jokes about how they design the female characters, but it’s clear that NetEase put more work into this than Nexon did with the notorious The First Descendant. NetEase has been transparent and acted fast on feedback, and they made several choices that made their game huge from the onset. We don’t think it can be underestimated enough just how crucial their decision to make all heroes free forever, and also to make cosmetics only monetization, was to the game’s success.
Subsequently, we know that its success wasn’t just a matter of having the Marvel license. Not when we have seen Disney fail to find the proper developer to make MCU games that would make the fans happy. We know the Square Enix titles will be the first thing in gamers minds, but this goes back a few years, all the way back to the Captain America and Iron Man games published by Sega all the way back in the 2000s.
Of course, it would be remiss not to talk about the rich potential of making PvE content based on Marvel’s storylines. While NetEase chose to mix it up with characters from all over the Marvel Universe, it’s easy to see the appeal of making events based on Marvel’s big comic book events, such as Secret Wars, Days Of Future Past, Infinity Gauntlet, and Absolute Carnage.
We’ll see if NetEase ever goes forward with PvE, but it would seem the template already exists in Helldivers 2’s crowdpleasing campaigns. So maybe this could just be a matter of NetEase just taking the time to make it. We would love it for sure if NetEase and Marvel Games just surprises us with it one of these days.
