Marvel Rivals Devs Focus on Game Development, Not Trolling Dataminers

Dataminers of *Marvel Rivals* have stirred the community with lists of potential future characters found within the game's code, sparking speculation that the developers might be intentionally misleading them. NetEase and Marvel, however, are focused on enhancing the game rather than engaging in such antics.

Last month, the datamining frenzy began as enthusiasts unearthed names of possible upcoming heroes, with some like the Fantastic Four being quickly confirmed. Yet, as more names surfaced, rumors spread that some might be decoys planted by the developers to throw dataminers off track. The community remains divided on the authenticity of these findings.

In a recent interview, we directly addressed these concerns with Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo. Wu emphasized the complexity of character design and development, 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 likened the situation to finding a notebook filled with scratch work, left without context, and firmly denied any deliberate trolling, saying, "No. We would rather spend our time developing the actual game."

During our discussion, we also explored the process of selecting new characters for *Marvel Rivals*. The team plans updates approximately a year ahead, maintaining a consistent schedule of introducing new characters every month and a half. NetEase focuses on balancing the game by considering the type of character and skillset needed to enhance variety and fill gaps in the roster. Wu explained that their strategy leans more towards introducing new characters and experiences rather than extensively tweaking existing ones for perfect balance.

Once potential characters are identified, NetEase collaborates with Marvel Games on initial designs, taking into account community interests and upcoming Marvel projects, such as major films or comic arcs, to finalize their choices. This thorough approach explains the variety of names found in the game's code, as NetEase continually explores numerous ideas.

*Marvel Rivals* has been well-received since its launch, with each new character addition enhancing the game's appeal. The Human Torch and The Thing are set to join the fray on February 21. Additionally, we discussed the potential for a *Marvel Rivals* release on the Nintendo Switch 2, details of which can be found [ttpp]here[ttpp].