Marvel Rivals will be releasing a new hero every few weeks, director reveals
To capitalize on Marvel Rivals’ recent success, NetEase Games plans to continuously add new content to keep things fresh. One of these important pieces is the inclusion of new heroes to the playable roster, which game director Guangyun Chen reveals will happen more often than players think.
In an interview with Metro, Chen says that each season in Marvel Rivals will be split into two halves; with each half introducing a new hero to the game. As every Marvel Rivals season (except last December’s Season 0) runs for three months, a new hero will be introduced roughly every 45 days. According to Chen, this routine introduction of heroes is meant to “enhance the experience” and keep everyone in the community excited for what’s to come.
NetEase Games confirmed in a Dev Vision video that Season 1 of Marvel Rivals will have more content than a regular season, with more characters being introduced than normal. Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman have already been added to the game, with The Human Torch and The Thing coming in a couple of weeks. Fewer heroes will be added in following seasons, reinforcing Chen’s statement regarding the number and frequency of hero additions.
Regarding hero balance, Chen remarks that while there are no plans for a role-lock system, NetEase Games plans to balance Marvel Rivals through their unique hero designs, team-up abilities, and hero ban mechanics. As an example, heroes like Mr. Fantastic (who is classified as a Duelist but plays like a Vanguard) have the potential to fill multiple roles. These mechanics are meant to enable the creation of unique team compositions and ensure each hero feels strong and fun to use.
Chen says that the development team also keeps close tabs on hero pick rates and win rates and makes small tweaks to their overall performance. While the arrival of Season 1 introduced some much-needed nerfs to powerhouse Duelists Hela and Hawkeye, they weren’t weakened to the point of becoming unusable.
Marvel Rivals has a lot of potential. Even before Season 1 launched, hero bans pushed players to routinely find new team compositions and playstyles that constantly shifted the game’s meta. The introduction of a new hero every few weeks will only increase the capacity for player creativity and continue to keep things interesting.
