Marvel Rivals: NetEase Talks Marvel Collabs And Teases The Big "Secrets" Of Season 10 And Beyond

Published Sep 4, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT Brandon Zachary is a Lead Writer for Screen Rant's New Movie Team. He also writes or has written for Comicbook.com, CBR, That Hashtag Show, Just Watch, and TVBrittanyF. Brandon is an Emerging Screenwriters Semi-Finalist, co-writer of a Screencraft Quarter-Finalist, a seasoned on-screen interviewer, and a MASSIVE nerd. You can reach him at bs.zachary@gmail.com Calling Marvel Rivals anything less than a success feels disingenuous. The hero shooter, which debuted in late 2024, has become a consistent arena for players worldwide. The broad canvas of the Marvel Universe as a source IP has given the developers plenty of room to play with across several seasons - and the team at NetEase is apparently just getting started. During an interview with Screen Rant at Gamescom, Marvel Rivals Publisher Director Yachen Bian broke down the driving motivation behind character additions to the game, the importance of their collaboration with Marvel, and teased what fans can expect from the game as it approaches its second anniversary and the Marvel Cinematic Universe's new epic, Avengers: Doomsday. Finding The Inner Superhero In The Hero Shooter Marvel Rivals has been a massive hit for NetEase Games, drawing in plenty of fans globally with its unique take on the classic superheroes and tweaks to the hero shooter. "It was a huge surprise for us," Bian explained, sharing the team's pleasant astonishment at just how well the game has been received by the larger player base. That power also comes with responsibility, however. "We generate a lot of users. That means we need to make more effort to meet the needs of the players. We need to face the different feedback from across the community. All the extremes do really encourage the dev team to think about what we can do to make it a better game." Citing the title's recent spot among Steam's most engaged games, Bian noted all the growth that's been coming to the game. She also explained that the central motivation of making the game more engaging and entertaining was at the heart of the team's approach to picking out roster additions from across the broader Marvel pantheon of characters. "We have a very high-level strategy where we look really carefully at the whole year roadmap of heroes. We're always keeping an eye on the community and plan our heroes according to feedback and performance, the actual data in the game. Based on that, we think about what kind of characteristics and uniqueness we need for the game's ecosystem." "Sometimes we will just have a spontaneous idea that could be interesting. We have to be very cautious about what we want to introduce. We want the proper hero with the proper ability in the game at the proper time. That is the most important thing about bringing the best experience to the players." "I know a lot of people love how we interpret the superheroes, because we take references from the Marvel Comics and all the interpretations in history. We summarize the key characteristics from each hero, then we think about how we can make that how they play. They are still authentic but there's something fresh to them because they're playable." Marvel Rivals Is Already Prepping For Doomsday Even as the game approaches its second anniversary, the Marvel Rivals team is looking to the future. Plenty more heroes and villains from the comics could be brought into the game, giving the developers a potentially limitless runway for additions. "There are a lot of characters in the Marvel Universe," Bian joked. "It's always a dynamic decision. I think it's all about accumulating the experience from the community. We listen to them and then insert those needs into the existing development pipeline. We want to do rapid iteration if we want to change something. We have the pre-planned strategy according to the IP, the community, even seasonal things. We have plans for the heroes but adjust according to the community." Looking ahead beyond Season 10, Bian was coy about revealing too much. "I know a lot of things I can't say. I have a lot of secrets. This year, we launched the new team-up system, which changed the gamer experience a lot. In September, we launched Season 10, which is bringing something new and special ot the game." "We introduced a pass to the Doomsday campaign this year, so we're going to have different game modes to [coincide] with the Avengers movies. This is all part of the collaboration we do with Marvel. We do a lot with them. You can expect tie-ins to the Doomsday movie when it comes out." That collaborative spirit between the team at NetEase and Marvel is key to the game's success. It's found the ideal bridge between games like Overwatch and the broader Marvel franchise, all without losing its own unique spirit or the heart of the source material. That extends to different sources of inspiration, ranging from comics, films, shows, animation, even other games. "It's very important to keep that collaboration consistent as new things come out. If we have some very specific plan or game mode or cosmetic thing or hero ideas, we work with them. We want to design the game that can interpret the original content and combine it with the gameplay. We respect the original characters. I take the consistency of Marvel Rivals very seriously, and we love having that flexibility and creativity to bring these characters to the game." So what's next? Marvel Rivals is about to host its 10th season later this year, and will arrive on Switch 2 at some point in the future.