NetEase has shared where they hope to take Marvel Rivals next.
As originally shared by X0X_LEAK, NetEase shared this in the Q&A in their latest financial meeting:
Q: Regarding Marvel Rivals, can you share more about the paying propensity and next growth strategies? Will there be expansions in marketing or e-sports?
A: Marvel Rivals has gained wide acclaim, especially after Season 1. NetEase plans to continue investing in development and marketing, with a long-term operational strategy. The team has plans for eSports and will announce these plans to enhance the gaming ecosystem. There will also be crossover events and promotions with other media to expand the user base.
While it would have been entirely possible that NetEase stuck to their side of the Marvel universe, the prospect of crossovers and media promotions is sure to get fans excited.
Of course, the big elephant in the room is Marvel’s ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe. And to be more specific, looming very clearly in relation to Marvel Rivals is Fantastic Four: First Steps, releasing this July 25, 2025.
This will be the first Fantastic Four feature film to release in over a decade, and it also happens to be planned to launch Phase 6 of the MCU. Of course, we already saw the four themselves in the official trailer, though they have yet to confirm if Dr. Doom will also be in the film.
Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, and The Human Torch have all been added as playable characters in Marvel Rivals. Dr. Doom is himself the main antagonist as well as a playable character in the game. In particular, we were expecting skins for these characters to match their cinematic counterparts, but it now appears that there may be more coordination between NetEase and Disney in the future.
Crossovers will also be exciting for obvious reasons. As it so happens, we reported on some eager fans making mods to make Marvel heroes into DC heroes last year. And we don’t know if this is a coincidence, but Marvel and DC have themselves confirmed plans to launch some new comic book crossover events themselves.
None of this is to say that DC – Marvel crossovers are already confirmed, but there is certainly a lot of things coming together to make all of this more likely.
We would be remiss if we didn’t point out that this comes weeks after we learned that NetEase closed Marvel Rivals’ Seattle studio. As it turned out, that was part of a bigger plan in motion in months now for NetEase to cut down their investments in all projects and studios, including in China.
Truthfully, it raises questions how committed NetEase will be to Marvel Rivals. Will they abandon these ideas as soon as they enter into them? Or is NetEase creating huge expectations for these initiatives? That will all remain to be seen.
