Dataminers have been buzzing about potential future characters hidden within the code of Marvel Rivals, a game developed by NetEase in collaboration with Marvel. Recently, the community started to speculate that some of these names might be decoys planted by the developers to mislead dataminers. However, Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo have clarified that there are no deliberate attempts to troll the community.
Wu emphasized the complexity of character design, stating, "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." Both producers firmly denied any trolling, with Koo stating, "No. We would rather spend our time developing the actual game."
The process of selecting new characters for Marvel Rivals involves a year-long planning cycle. NetEase aims to add new characters every month and a half, focusing on balancing the game by introducing fresh experiences rather than tweaking existing characters extensively. The team first identifies the type of character and skillset needed to enhance the game's variety and balance. A list of potential additions is then presented to Marvel Games, where initial designs are developed. The final decision considers community excitement and upcoming Marvel projects in other media, such as films or comic arcs.
The presence of numerous hero names in the game's code is a result of NetEase's extensive brainstorming and planning. This approach ensures a dynamic and evolving roster, keeping the game exciting for players. Marvel Rivals has been well-received since its launch, with new characters like the Human Torch and The Thing set to join the game on February 21, further enhancing its appeal.
For those interested in the future of Marvel Rivals, Wu and Koo also discussed the possibility of a Nintendo Switch 2 release, which you can read about here.
