Marvel Rivals what lessons should Sony and others learn? (NetEase Games)After a year of live service flops how is it that Marvel Rivals has become such a massive hit? GameCentral talks to the games director to find out.Marvel Rivals has been a huge success since it was released in early December. The Overwatch-esque hero shooter has carved out a place for itself in the crowded world of live service games and the initial signs right now suggest that it will have staying power. Thats a minor miracle, given how many high profile failures there have been recently, including last years Concord and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League.)That success has been solidified by the recent launch of Season 1, which sees the game get a new map and the introduction of the Fantastic Four, to keep that momentum rolling. Its undeniably an exciting time for NetEases new hit. Thats why we jumped at the chance to speak to the games director, Guangyun Chen.In our interview with him, we reflect with him on the games launch, the undying role lock conversation, and how often heroes will be added to the game. Please bear in mind this interview was conducted just before Christmas, so the specifics of Season 1 werent known at that time.PD: For you guys, how has the launch been? How pleased are you with the community response?GC: Our whole team has felt the passion of the community and everyone. We would use all of that to fuel us and continue to develop great stuff for everyone.PD: Youve been pretty clear about not wanting to enforce role lock [which sets hard limits on how many class types can be in a single team to try and create an even spread of healers, tanks, etc.] prior to release. That said, the community conversation around the topic right now is really loud. If that conversation becomes loud enough, would you be willing to change your stance?GC: Yeah, so we totally get that the community is discussing role lock and role queue. At its core, its really about the game balance. So, what we want to offer is more line-up or more team comp possibilities through our hero design and our team-up mechanic. So, well be taking a little bit more of a Marvel-inspired approach.Its all about giving the players the freedom to experiment and find their unique strategies, as weve seen in many games and streams. Post-launch, people have been exploring an indefinite amount of team compositions, and were excited about whats coming, we believe no role queue will lead to a richer gaming experience for everyone.PD: In terms of gameplay, is there anything thats surprising you? Anything the player-base is doing that you didnt expect?GC: Theres actually been a lot of cool stuff happening from social media. Weve seen, for example, Jeff is blowing up on socials. Weve also seen players share epic clips of Spider-Man using his web swing to block Iron Mans ult. Its totally wild. Not to mention, you know, theres the team-up between Hulk and Wolverine, so they use that insane fastball special team-up to take Iron Man down right from the sky.Yeah, its really amazing seeing all these clips from socials, and it really shows us that the players and the community love our game, and really were just really grateful for everything.PD: How important is game balance to you? With patch notes, how quickly do you want to put them out? Do you want to mess with metas and strong heroes that become outliers quickly or give them time?GC: After the launch, weve been keeping a close eye on the games environment and balance. Moving forward, we will be looking at hero pick rates and win rates in different scenarios. Once we have some more detailed analysis and through thoughtful consideration, well definitely make necessary balances and adjustments.Its all about creating a good experience for our players. It hasnt been that long since our launch, so were going to continue to monitor everything and make sure everything feels right.PD: Whats your philosophy on game balance? Do you think making changes to heroes who are strong with the best players is best? Base it on what is strong in tournaments? Or do you want to preserve the casual player experience?GC: The team generally wants every kind of player to enjoy the game in their own way. So instead of just zeroing in on either tournament results or quick play, were going to take a broader look at the overall balance data on all the heroes in all the modes.Additionally, weve also introduced a ban/pick system in higher tier ranked matches and in tournaments. So, this adds another layer of strategy for competitive players, giving them more choices in how they want to approach every single game. Marvel Rivals you can no doubt expect more movie tie-ins in the future (NetEase Games)PD: How do seasonal bonuses work? Are they meant to be on all the time, and I assume they will change next season?GC: So let us break down the team-up mechanic first. First off, each team-up involves two to three heroes, with one acting as the core team-up, which is the one who received the seasonal bonuses. So, when theres one core hero on the field, any other hero from that specific team-up would activate the whole team-up mechanics.And you really only need two heroes to trigger one team-up, which specifically means that a team can easily activate three sets of team-ups in one game and that further adds a whole new layer of strategy and depth to team compositions.So on one hand, we want to encourage players to use these core heroes by giving them additional season stat bonuses, which helps to then activate more team-ups potentially in one game. So, we believe by doing all this, we would have more freedom, but we let players choose the heroes that they want to play.Looking ahead as we move on to seasonal updates, well be introducing new heroes and will also be refreshing the team-ups every season. That includes adding new team-ups, as well as breaking down and reshaping the existing ones to keep the experience dynamic and engaging for everyone.PD: Why did the game launch with such a disproportionate amount of Duelists? Do you prefer to take a hero you want to make and decide the role after, or is the wider roster composition important? Do you plan to try and make the roles more even, or do you not think it matters?GC: Our choice of heroes will be guided by the overall gameplay experience or theme that we want to create for each season. So itll revolve around the season and right now, at post-launch, we have eight Vanguards and seven Strategists at launch. The team believes that it gives the players a solid variety for tactical match-ups or team composition. Having more Duelists at the moment will definitely enhance the Duelist experience, letting players dive a little bit deeper into that aspect.So lastly, big shout out to our community, as weve seen a lot of feedback as we look ahead to future seasons, starting with Season One, we would definitely keep this in mind when introducing new heroes, and we would make want to make sure that everyone feels heard and excited.PD: This might be a little cheeky of me, but have you spoken about the cadence players can expect new heroes to join the game? Are you aiming for a couple a year, or as many as possible?GC: Every season well be rolling out fresh seasonal stories, new maps, and new heroes. Well actually be breaking down each season into two halves. The length of one season is three months. And for each half of the season, we will introduce a new hero. We just eventually want to continue to enhance the experience, and, you know, keep everyone excited in our community.PD: Whats your philosophy on Vanguards? For you, what is the job of a tank, and what makes a good Vanguard? How do you find new characters to make around that idea?GC: So, right now, our gameplay primarily focuses on single-objective modes. As a Vanguard, your primary role is to stand at the forefront of that objective, be that a capture point or payload, and creating space for Duelists and Strategists in your team to set up their formations. That really sets the base stage for our two-sided combat model, where two teams are going head-to-head against each other.So, from there, we also believe that Vanguards will have the strongest survivability in the game. There are many ways to express that. For example, we have Doctor Stranges magical shield. We have Groots wood walls. We have Hulk and Venoms high mobility. This all leads to a diverse range of gameplay styles for our Vanguards, which is fundamentally a core part of our design philosophy.Since we are also a Marvel superhero game, we dont want Vanguards just to soak up damage. We also want them to contribute more to the team, so thats why weve designed some really cool mechanics to go along with them. For example, we have the famous Doctor Strange portals. We have Peni Parkers web traps and web zones. We also have Magnetos ultimate ability that actually absorbs enemy projectiles and turns them into a powerful counterattack.You know, all these mechanics enable Vanguards to create some epic moments where you truly enjoy that unparalleled superhero experience. This is a crucial part of how we approach designing our Vanguards. And lastly, when were designing new Vanguards, we also tie in the core concept of their character IPs and the Marvel Universe, ensuring that we take all of these elements into account when designing them.PD: Are you happy with the map variety currently in the game?GC: Yeah, we are actually very happy about all the diversity in our maps we have right now in-game, and also all the destructibility. In the future, we will also be planning to introduce even more map diversities, so stay tuned for that.PD: Jeff the Land Sharks ultimate is very large and hard to avoid. Can we expect any tweaks there?GC: We actually have an interesting tip for how to avoid Jeffs ultimate. Make sure you keep your formation spread out and as soon as you hear Jeff saying Nom, Nom, Nom before he unleashes the ultimate, you want to scatter away. And dont hesitate to use your Mobility skills if you need to.And, if you have a teammate or two who unfortunately gets swallowed by Jeff, and youve also done a good job spreading out your whole team beforehand, it means that only a few teammates will get caught.More TrendingSo, in that case, theres still a chance to take him down and rescue your buddy before he drags them to the end of the map. Its all about that teamwork and timing. Hitting all these specific timings will really help turn the tide.PD: Marvel Rivals is excelling because of the fun, casual experience, but you have already started tournaments and have some esports aspirations. How will you make the game competitive in those areas, while trying to retain that fun chaos that the game is enjoying right now?GC: Weve actually been thinking about this on a broader scale, looking at the picture as a whole. We really hope that when we do the competitive modes or tournaments, they will co-exist with our quick play. Thats because weve been seeing a lot of other successful titles being able to pull off a competitive environment and a quick play environment both healthily at the same time. Well be taking a lot of references from them to ultimately let both player pools thrive.Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: Free-to-playPublisher: NetEase GamesDeveloper: NetEase GamesRelease Date: 6th December 2024Age Rating: 12 Marvel Rivals is in better health than the MCU (NetEase Games)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. 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