You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Marvel Rivals’ success is no wonder to the gaming industry as the free-to-play NetEase game has been a giant disruption in the hero shooter space, giving tense competition to heavyweights like Overwatch 2. However, it’s one thing that the game performs incredibly well, but when it’s backed by an iconic IP like Marvel, its parent company, Disney, hasn’t held back in showing pride for its success. In 2025, Disney’s theatrical releases have had a rocky start, with two high-profile films, Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World and the live-action Snow White, failing to achieve box office projections. These flops highlighted difficulties for Disney’s film division, raising concerns about franchise fatigue and strategic errors. However, Disney’s fiscal second-quarter earnings report, announced on May 7, provided a more positive prognosis. Despite cinematic disappointments, the company’s sales increased by 7% to $23.62 billion, due to solid theme park performance and unexpected subscriber growth for Disney+ (1.4 million new subscriptions). Notably, the report cited the success of Marvel Rivals, a recently released video game that increased consumer product licensing revenue by 4%, thus marking it as a huge success. Disney hails Marvel Rivals as a huge success for driving key revenue in quarterly reports In its quarterly earnings investors report, Disney mentioned how their latest film releases including Kevin Feige’s MCU title Captain America: Brave New World failed to become profitable for the company as they wrote, “Theatrical distribution results were comparable to the prior-year quarter, as the carryover performance of first quarter releases, Mufasa: The Lion King and Moana 2, was largely offset by the results of second quarter releases, Snow White and Captain America: Brave New World, including the costs of their initial marketing campaigns.” Rivals recently dropped a Thunderbolts* Bucky skin to coincide with the MCU film release. Image by VideoGamer. However, at the same time, under the “Experiences” subhead under the “Consumer Products” category, they hailed Marvel Rivals a massive success for the company. Disney wrote, “The increase in operating income at consumer products was due to higher licensing revenue, including a benefit from the release of the licensed game, Marvel Rivals.” Marvel Rivals has played a significant role in boosting Consumer Products’ operating income, which saw a remarkable 14% increase year-over-year, climbing from $387 million to an impressive $443 million. Disney attributes a portion of this growth to the licensing revenue generated from Marvel Rivals, as previously noted. The NetEase shooter is clearly making a significant impact on Disney’s bottom line, marking it as a notable success in the gaming landscape. This is particularly impressive given the backdrop of recent high-profile flops for Disney in the gaming sector, such as the disappointing Marvel’s Avengers, which focused on Ms. Marvel. The support for the online game was shut down just after 3 years of its release due to poor reception. On the contrary, Marvel Rivals has seen a significant boost per month, despite its recently dropping player count, to drive new content to players and engage them in the free-to-play action with iconic characters and even MCU costumes that fans can purchase. Marvel Rivals Platform(s): macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X Genre(s): Fighting, Shooter Related Topics Marvel Rivals Subscribe to our newsletters! By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime. Share