Why Overwatch 2 is Now Profitable the Struggle Towards Marvel Rivals

When Marvel Rivals first debuted, it was the discuss of the city. Just about everybody was speaking concerning the newest hero shooter on the block, whether or not it’s reward for its daring team-up mechanics, appreciation for its attractive artwork type, or love for the cute Jeff the Land Shark. Whereas these items are all nonetheless strengths of the sport, as is a formidable cadence for brand new hero releases and map drops, Marvel Rivals has skilled a fall from grace. On the similar time, Overwatch 2 has been steadily bettering itself, making a situation the place Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2 are surprisingly shut collectively on Steam — one thing that means Overwatch possible has a major lead general.

Marvel Rivals‘ Steam player count is round 76,000 gamers on the time of writing, which is roughly 12% of the staggering 644,000 gamers that made up its peak participant rely. Overwatch 2 is at present at 36,000 gamers, which isn’t almost as a lot of a drop-off as its peak of 75,000 when it got here to the platform 2 years in the past.

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When contemplating how Steam is probably going the least populated platform for Overwatch, as many PC gamers nonetheless entry the sport by means of Battle.Internet, it will possibly safely be assumed that Overwatch 2 is extra lively than its competitors for the time being. To be clear, Marvel Rivals shouldn’t be the “dead game” some gamers wish to erroneously throw round, as its peak participant counts of 100,000 a day on Steam (and better for hero releases) are nothing to scoff at. Nonetheless, with the sport persevering with to lose gamers and it being unclear the place its ground might be, it’s value taking a look at what’s going wrong for Marvel Rivals (and proper for Overwatch 2).

Why Marvel Rivals is Struggling in Late 2025

Along with the pure fall-off of informal players that had been merely attempting out one thing that was fashionable in the course of the recreation’s early months, Marvel Rivals’ struggles are three-fold, with every problem arguably having an equal affect on the sport’s decline. Stated issues are:

An absence of Strategist heroes.
Questionable balancing and matchmaking.
An more and more poisonous neighborhood.

The obvious of those points is that the sport is rapidly rising stale for one of many three roles, as there hasn’t been a brand new Strategist launched since Ultron got here out again in Might. Sadly, the longer term isn’t all that vivid, both, because it’s exhausting to think about the leaked characters for the following few seasons (Rogue, Gambit, Deadpool, and Else Bloodstone) being Strategists. There’s merely not as a lot to look ahead to for Strategist followers, as, alongside a scarcity of recent heroes for his or her function, the team-ups for the class are usually extra restricted. This dovetails into much less Strategist mains in matches, and with Vanguards at all times being exhausting to return by because of the stress of the function, groups with 4 duelists are frustratingly widespread.

These unenjoyable matches mix with issues about matchmaking and balancing. Whereas NetEase has pushed again on the concept it makes use of EOMM — a type of matchmaking the place a developer tries to maintain gamers hooked by giving them ranked losses proper whereas they’re on the verge of rating up — a majority of the neighborhood nonetheless feels that matchmaking simply doesn’t really feel proper. Matches the place one staff dominates really feel extra widespread than not, with the sport’s aggressive mode sadly not feeling all that aggressive more often than not. When it comes to balancing, the neighborhood usually questions why sure heroes go untouched for lengthy durations of time, reminiscent of an egregiously lengthy interval passing earlier than Luna was nerfed. On the flip aspect, sure nerfs really feel pointless, like the most recent replace aiming to decrease Ultron’s therapeutic regardless of him solely being viable in triple assist as is.

Lastly, there’s maybe probably the most damaging side of Marvel Rivals, and that’s the sport’s neighborhood. Toxicity is part of all on-line competitive games, with titles like League of Legends notorious for being harsh to newcomers. Nonetheless, many Marvel Rivals gamers really feel as if the punishments usually are not almost harsh sufficient for many who are poisonous in chat, depart matches, or throw video games. It’s shockingly widespread for gamers to throw a match purely as a result of they dislike a hero their teammates picked, resulting in wasted time and undeservedly misplaced SR. Hero shooters already battle to herald newcomers as time passes, as devoted gamers get too good on the recreation, making it exhausting for casuals to have enjoyable and catch up. Marvel Rivals has this problem, however the issue turns into even worse with how nasty gamers might be in all the things from ranked to fast play, as this conduct can push informal gamers away very quick.

Why Overwatch 2 is Thriving in Late 2025

On the flip aspect, Overwatch 2 has skilled a number of successes as of late. Essentially the most outstanding of those is the Stadium recreation mode, as if the Stadium Draft was a short misstep, the strategic parts of the mode have made it an enormous hit with followers. Constant additions for the expertise, like Stadium fast play, maps, upgrades, heroes, and recent mechanics have all gone a protracted approach to making it a pretty different to regular Overwatch. Couple this vital addition with interesting occasions in Season 18 that showered gamers in Loot Bins, in addition to a correct character development system (one thing Marvel Rivals lacks, as there’s little to chase for a hero as soon as reaching Lord standing), and it’s clear to see why Overwatch is doing effectively for the time being.

The opposite huge factor in Overwatch 2’s favor is that the neighborhood has one thing to look ahead to. Lately, Workforce 4 developer made a number of mentions of a necessity to enhance Overwatch‘s lore and storytelling if they need the sport to be firing on all cylinders, one thing that followers have been determined to see addressed for a while now. Moreover, one thing main has been teased for Season 20, and followers have actual religion that the “next big thing” for the sport will truly be deserving of that moniker because of what Stadium completed. This has undoubtedly been a part of the motivation behind sure Marvel Rivals content material creators leaping again to Overwatch 2, as not solely do they see the decrease curiosity in Rivals, however the optimism for the way forward for Blizzard’s hero shooter is plain.

Overwatch 2 can be capable of dabble with collaborations, usually having interesting crossovers with franchises like Persona, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and extra.

A part of Overwatch 2’s early struggles might be attributed to the sensation that builders weren’t listening, whereas for the final a number of months, the alternative appears to be true. With Marvel Rivals, although, it’s unclear what its personal “subsequent huge factor will truly be, because it seems like future seasons will simply be extra of the identical. Moreover, gamers really feel like they aren’t being heard, whether or not it’s on account of divisive balancing or unchecked toxicity. Hopefully, Marvel Rivals can get well, as a aggressive hero shooter scene is a more healthy surroundings for followers and builders alike.