A Huge Chunk Of Overwatch Players Switched To Marvel Rivals, Report Says

Marvel Rivals took the world by storm in December of last year, quickly becoming one of the most popular multiplayer games to play, and according to a new report, a huge chunk of Overwatch 2 players made that jump over to Rivals. Marvel Rivals features objective-based multiplayer gameplay and even shares similar UI elements with Overwatch, so the two games are often compared. Both are also free-to-play, and with the huge pulling power of the Marvel IP, it's not surprising that a lot of Overwatch 2 players dropped the game for Marvel Rivals instead.

According to a gaming industry report from NewZoo (via Insider Gaming), 45% of Overwatch 2 players who stopped playing the game in December jumped over to play Marvel Rivals. Overwatch 2 hit a player-peak when it was in early access in 2022, and the game's player count progressively got lower, became stagnant in 2024, and then lowered even more when Marvel Rivals released. Even though it came out in the last month of the year, Marvel Rivals was one of the most played games of 2024.

Is There Room For Two Popular Hero Shooters?

Maybe Marvel Rivals Is The Overwatch Killer

Successful new games that are similar to another existing game are often coined as the "killer" of whatever franchise had popularity first. Overwatch took the world by storm in 2016 and became one of the biggest hero shooters of all time, and until Marvel Rivals, it faced little competition from similar hero shooters. It had its share of issues, such as some retailers still selling copies of the first Overwatch even after Overwatch 2 fully replaced the original game. Marvel Rivals, however, had little controversy going into its Season 2, and its free-to-play model is often praised.

Marvel Rivals Spider-Man skin MVP animation from Season 2 Battle Pass

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There definitely is room for both games to co-exist, and both do appeal to many players. Some prefer Overwatch 2's first-person gameplay and original characters, while some people prefer the third-person gameplay and established Marvel characters and lore offered in Marvel Rivals. But given the immense popularity and consistent updates for Marvel Rivals, and with dozens of characters leaked and rumored to look forward to, the idea of Marvel Rivals being the "Overwatch killer" isn't far-fetched for most people, so it isn't hard to see why so many people jumped to Marvel Rivals.

Our Take: It's Not Impossible For Overwatch 2 To Get Back Its Players

Overwatch Went Unrivaled For A Long Time

Marvel Rivals saw a drop in its player count back in March, but the game is still greatly outpacing Overwatch 2 and other hero shooters. In a recent earnings call, NetEase Games stated it doesn't actually see Overwatch 2 as a direct competitor, saying, "Both Marvel Rivals and Overwatch are excellent superhero shooters and are both well-designed and supported by outstanding development teams. We believe the market is large enough to accommodate two excellent games."

Due to Overwatch being the undisputed king of the hero-shooter genre for a long time, and with Marvel Rivals coming along, the idea of a different third-person hero-shooter featuring Marvel characters naturally seemed appealing to most hero-shooter fans. Both games will have their own dedicated fans, and there will be fans that play both games. It isn't much of a question that Marvel Rivals is the top dog of hero shooters right now, but Overwatch 2 or another game could always sweep in and throw all the player numbers up in the air.