The world of Marvel Rivals has been buzzing with excitement and speculation as dataminers delve into the game's code, uncovering lists of potential future characters. However, the community is divided, with some believing that NetEase and Marvel might be playfully misleading them by planting fake names among the real ones. This theory gained traction after the Fantastic Four were officially announced, seemingly confirming some of the datamined heroes.
In a recent interview, we had the chance to speak directly with Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo about these rumors. Both denied any deliberate trolling, emphasizing their focus on developing the game rather than misleading the community. Wu explained, "So firstly we want to say that we don't recommend anybody to make adjustments to the files [of the game]. Also, you can see that for each character's design actually we come through a very complicated process and we make a lot of concepts, trials, prototypes, development, et cetera. So there could be some information left in the code, and it might mean that we have tried those directions and they may appear or may not appear in our future plans. And whether or not they will appear in our future pipeline is highly depending on what kind of gameplay experience our players would expect in our game."
Koo added, "If I could have a ten-year plan, it'd be great. But the team experimented with a lot of play styles, heroes. It was like there's someone doing scratch paperwork and then just left a notebook there, and someone [a dataminer] decided to open it with no context." When directly asked if they were trolling, Koo firmly stated, "No. We would rather spend our time developing the actual game."
During our conversation, we also explored the process behind selecting new characters for Marvel Rivals. Wu and Koo revealed that the team plans updates approximately a year in advance, aiming to introduce a new character every month and a half. The selection process involves considering the type of character and skillset needed to balance the game and add variety to the roster. NetEase first compiles a list of potential additions, focusing on adding new experiences to keep the game fresh, support weaker characters, and counter those that may be too strong.
After creating this list, NetEase collaborates with Marvel Games to develop initial designs, taking into account community excitement and upcoming Marvel projects, such as films or comic arcs, to finalize their choices. This comprehensive approach explains the presence of numerous hero names in the game's code, as NetEase continuously explores various ideas.
Marvel Rivals has been a hit since its launch, with each new character enhancing the gameplay experience. The Human Torch and The Thing are set to join the roster on February 21, further enriching the game. Additionally, Wu and Koo discussed the potential for a Nintendo Switch 2 release, which you can read more about [ttpp].
