Marvel Rivals Devs Focus on Game Development, Not Trolling Dataminers

Dataminers of Marvel Rivals have been buzzing with excitement and skepticism over lists of potential future characters found within the game's code. While some names were quickly confirmed with the official announcement of the Fantastic Four, others led to speculation that NetEase and Marvel might be playfully misleading the community. The rumor? That some of these names could be decoys, intentionally placed by developers to throw dataminers off the scent.

The Marvel Rivals community remains divided on which, if any, of these datamined characters are genuinely in development. To shed light on the situation, we had the chance to speak directly with Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo. When asked about the possibility of a deliberate troll, both were quick to clarify that their focus is squarely on developing the game, not on misleading the community.

Wu emphasized the complexity of character design, noting, "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 added a humorous analogy, likening the situation to finding a notebook with scratch paperwork, "If I could have a ten-year plan, it'd be great. But the team experimented with a lot of play styles, heroes. It was like there's someone doing scratch paperwork and then just left a notebook there, and someone [a dataminer] decided to open it with no context."

When pressed further on the trolling aspect, Koo firmly stated, "No. We would rather spend our time developing the actual game."

In the same discussion, we delved into the process of selecting new characters for Marvel Rivals. Wu and Koo explained that the team plans updates about a year in advance, aiming to introduce new characters every month and a half. The process involves assessing the current roster and gameplay balance, identifying gaps, and considering new additions that can enhance variety and address any imbalances. Wu shared that NetEase's approach focuses more on adding fresh characters and experiences rather than fine-tuning existing ones to perfection.

Once a list of potential characters is compiled, NetEase collaborates with Marvel Games to develop initial designs. They also take into account community feedback and upcoming Marvel projects across films and comics, which could influence character choices. This comprehensive strategy explains the presence of multiple hero names in the game's code, reflecting the numerous ideas the team is constantly exploring.

Marvel Rivals has been a hit since its launch, with new characters like the Human Torch and The Thing set to join the fray on February 21, further enriching the game's dynamic universe. Additionally, we touched on the potential for a Nintendo Switch 2 release, details of which you can find in our separate article.