Marvel Rivals kicks off 2025 by smashing the most popular charts, reaching over 640,000 players on Steam alone.
If I had a nickel for every time a newly released real-time third-person shooter attracted hundreds of thousands of players at the start of the year, I’d have two nickels. It’s not much, but it’s strange that it happened twice. As the title suggests, Marvel Rivals is doing very well, with a whopping 644,269 registered players on Steam as of January 11, an all-time high.
This, according to the SteamDB leaderboard, places it in a completely respectable 14th place at the time of writing, placing it below other video game giants like Baldur’s Gate 3 (which had about 40.6% more players at its peak) and above strong players such as Path from Exile 2, Valheim and Helldivers 2.
That’s more than enough to classify it as a phenomenon, considering flagship shooter Arrowhead amassed 458,700 bug-shooting super-patriots at launch. And that doesn’t include players on other platforms such as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Why? Well, for starters, the first season is here. And it’s obviously free, which no doubt explains a lot of the crowd saying “well, damn it, let’s give it a try.” To be honest, I’m one of them. Normally I would never try something like Marvel Rivals for a premium price, but its insane absurdity absolutely hooked me. Even our Fraser Brown, who was initially underwhelmed by the game, came to his senses just in time for Christmas.
But there’s also the fact that NetEase has put together something completely solid and a lot of fun, pairing that competence with recognizable characters. Let’s face it: Marvel’s star power is a formidable force that can withstand any marketing effort. Everyone wants their favorite hero to be a teamwipe, and you’ll love learning more about comics too – in other words, players come for Spider-Man, but stay for Jeff the Land Shark. Sure, the monetization isn’t very good, but it’s just cosmetic, so you can just close your eyes and ignore it.
Whether it will maintain the momentum of its online opening is another matter entirely. 2024 hasn’t been a great year for real-time shooters, making Marvel Rivals a notable title. ejection among his fellow newcomers. X-Defiant, Concord and Suicide Squad all launched and failed – I even lost hope that the new kid on the block could make any difference.
Well, now I’m eating humble pie. Both because I was wrong and because I keep getting my ass kicked when I dive into the back line as Spider-Man with everyone else. At least its developers remain humble, too, with the game’s director admitting that there isn’t really a basic formula for success: “It’s very hard to say in advance.” At least it makes me feel better about my weak prophecy abilities.