Marvel Rivals was, from the moment it was revealed, compared to Overwatch. Taken at face value, Marvel Rivals is remarkably similar to Blizzard’s game; while Marvel Rivals uses Marvel heroes and villains for its playable characters, it is, like Overwatch, a competitive multiplayer hero shooter with some remarkably similar mechanics and gameplay systems. Both Marvel Heroes and Overwatch 2 are free-to-play, monetized as live services, and lean on the addition of new characters to keep things feeling fresh.
Marvel Rivals has enjoyed explosive popularity since launching in December, and it is speculated that this has come at the cost of interest in Overwatch 2. Blizzard’s game, according to the current narrative, is dwindling as NetEase’s Marvel Rivals gobbles up its players.
In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller discussed the new reality Blizzard finds itself in, with Marvel Rivals now out in the wild and attracting tens of millions of players.
"We're obviously in a new competitive landscape that I think, for Overwatch, we've never really been in before, to this extent where there's another game that's so similar to the one that we've created," Keller said.
You’d think this would be a bad thing for Overwatch, then, but Keller called the situation “exciting,” and even said it was “really great” to see Marvel Rivals take ideas established by Overwatch in a “different direction.”
Still, Keller admitted Marvel Rivals’ success had forced a change in attitude within Blizzard when it comes to Overwatch 2, saying: “this is no longer about playing it safe."
To that end, Blizzard has announced radical changes coming to Overwatch 2 in 2025. While the roadmap ahead includes much of what you'd expect to see in terms of new content, the core gameplay itself will see a seismic shift, including the additions of hero perks and the return of loot boxes.
All eyes will be on Overwatch 2 to see if these changes spark a resurgence in interest. We're now nearly nine years out from the debut of Overwatch in 2016, and two-and-a-half from the launch of Overwatch 2. And while Blizzard does not make Overwatch player numbers public, we can see concurrent player numbers on Steam are as low as they’ve ever been since Overwatch 2 launched on Valve’s platform in 2023, with a 37,046 concurrent player peak over the last 24 hours.
Marvel Rivals, meanwhile, remains a top 10 most-played game on Steam, with a 310,287 concurrent player peak over the last 24 hours.
Overwatch 2 still has a ‘mostly negative’ user review rating on Steam. Indeed, in August 2023, Overwatch 2 became the worst user-reviewed game on Steam ever. Most of the negative reviews focused on monetization after Blizzard was heavily-criticised for forcing its premium predecessor to update into a free-to-play sequel, rendering the original Overwatch unplayable, back in 2022. Overwatch 2 subsequently endured a number of controversies including the cancellation of its long-awaited PvE Hero mode — the one feature, players said, that justified the sequel's existence.
IGN has loads more on Marvel Rivals, including the developer's clarification on datamining, and thoughts on the possibility of a Nintendo Switch 2 version.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
