Marvel Rivals Loses 85% of Players Despite $100M Debut

Marvel Rivals, NetEase’s hero shooter based on Marvel’s universe, has lost 85% of its players in less than a year. Steam data shows that the game’s concurrent player count has dropped from a peak of 644,000 in January to around 98,000 this week, signaling a major retention challenge for one of the biggest new live-service titles of 2024.

Marvel Rivals launched in December 2024 to wide attention for its Overwatch-style mechanics and large Marvel roster. Despite these gloomy figures, Marvel Rivals has still been a tremendous success. It generated over $100 million in revenue during its first month alone.

Why Marvel Rivals Struggling to Keep Players

At the time, the title appeared to fill an essential gap in Marvel’s gaming lineup following the underperformance of Marvel's Avengers from Square Enix. 

The strong debut of Rivals positioned it as one of NetEase’s biggest global launches and a potential billion-dollar franchise if player engagement could be sustained.

However, the steady drop in active players has raised questions about the game’s ability to retain its audience. While 98,000 concurrent players is still a healthy number, the downward trend suggests declining engagement. Comparable titles such as Apex Legends grew consistently over multiple years, increasing from 117,000 players in 2020 to more than 600,000 in 2023, showing a pattern of sustained growth rather than early decline.

Industry analysts point to the game’s rapid update cycle as a potential factor. NetEase has introduced new heroes nearly every month, creating challenges in balancing and maintaining stable gameplay.

The pace may have contributed to player fatigue, with some users drifting back to established shooters like Overwatch 2.

NetEase has not announced any major changes to address the drop, though adjustments to update frequency and balance tuning may help steady engagement.