Marvel Rivals isn’t killing Overwatch 2 – it’s saving it
Blizzard EntertainmentEver since Marvel Rivals came out, it’s been pretty much impossible to avoid discourse around MR taking a huge portion of Overwatch 2’s players and content creators. While the numbers don’t lie in terms of player count and viewership, there’s much more to the story.
The hero shooter genre has been in a weird flux since Overwatch came out in 2016. Blizzard built on the foundation that TF2 created, making a game that’s enjoyable for casual and competitive audiences alike. The diverse roster of heroes makes it easy for anyone to find at least one character they enjoy.
And, though other games have tried to compete with Overwatch for the hero shooter crown, none came close. Even as interest in hero shooters waned, Overwatch was never dethroned despite simultaneously bleeding players as people found new games to enjoy. No one was moving the genre forward. The king of a dying land will eventually rule over nothing.
Then Marvel Rivals came out. With a massive cast of heroes on launch, the promise of continuous content updates, a lack of role queue, and team-ups that create a whole new dynamic, MR stands on its own two legs as Overwatch’s first real competitor.
But, in the fight for that crown in the genre, Overwatch 2’s developers have finally woken up.
Bringing innovation back to the hero shooter genre
Marvel Rivals may not be an Overwatch killer by name, but it’s impossible to shake the feeling that NetEase did their homework on Blizzard’s possible missteps.
From releasing with no restrictions on heroes at all, moving to one hero to play, implementing role queue with 6v6, and then moving to 5v5 with Overwatch 2, Blizzard has been forced to re-invent their game multiple times as players found ways to break every new version they tried to implement.
BlizzardThis, however, has had unfortunate casualties. Many of Overwatch 2’s tanks feel out of place in a 5v5 format, but the complete lack of interest from players in picking tanks has made it impossible to do 6v6 without dreadfully long queue times – although Blizzard is trying that out anyway to see if they can win players back.
I don’t envy Overwatch 2’s developers. The game has a ton of deep-seated issues borne from constant changes and the complete restructuring of how the game works. It’s fun for first-time players, but anyone who has put hundreds if not thousands of hours into the game can see the identity crisis under the hood.
Is Overwatch 2 a competitive game, or is it meant for casuals? Does Blizzard actually care about the story of the OW universe with the wonderful characters they’ve created, or are they now just window dressing for a multiplayer-focused shooter? I couldn’t tell you the answer to either of those questions, and I’m not sure the developers at Blizzard could, either.
However, one thing is for sure: People still love Overwatch.
BlizzardDespite all its issues, Overwatch 2 was always the best option for people who wanted their hero shooter fix. What else were you going to play? Paladins? TF2? Gundam Evolution? Concord?
Beyond a trickle of small content updates and new heroes, there was no need for Overwatch to unravel its twisted knot of confused game mechanics and characters that were made for two different games.
Now, Marvel Rivals is knocking at Blizzard’s door with numbers that have them at the top of Steam charts and a level of hype that hasn’t slowed down since launch. Overwatch has to respond or get left in the dust.
Overwatch’s hero shooter war against Marvel Rivals kicks off
Before now, it could have been argued that Overwatch 2’s biggest enemy was itself. They had to keep innovating on a game that realistically had no competitors in the genre, figuring out how to keep themselves relevant without alienating players by changing too much.
Efforts in this area have been equal parts triumph and tragedy.
While new hero releases have been solid and creative new LTMs have been a great time, new modes have been a bit of a flop and a lack of truly refreshing multiplayer content has been felt.
The degenerate rock/paper/scissors counterswap meta pushed me out of the game, personally. As a tank player, constant counterswapping was genuinely unbearable. I, like most players, silently quit at the time. The average player doesn’t make a big fuss of it when they quit the game, they just move on.
But I’m in the same camp many other people are: Willing to play Overwatch 2 if it changes but unhappy with its current state. This is, however, an increasingly common sentiment among longtime OW fans.
The slow bleed of players leaving Overwatch 2 has turned into hemorrhaging. Content creators especially have made the jump. Even if they don’t prefer Marvel Rivals, it just makes business sense right now considering how much more popular the game is.
However, the cracks are starting to show. Marvel’s triple heal meta is suffocating at high-level play, reminiscent of Overwatch’s worst metas and the very issue that forced them to implement a hard 2-2-2 role queue.
Marvel Rivals’ existence challenges the notion that OW2’s finely tuned gameplay and heavily restricted role queue was something that improved it as a product, and they’re dedicated to not implementing a role queue. But what if NetEase is wrong?
NetEase GamesMR’s honeymoon phase has been glorious, one of the most fun releases to be a part of in the gaming space. The hype has been inescapable, with people who never touched the hero shooter genre getting in on the fun and experiencing the beauty of working with your friends.
But that honeymoon phase will end. The devs have admitted that they’ll have to slow down eventually with content drops, and frustration will begin to set in when the meta stagnates. The triple heal problem won’t be easy to solve.
Despite its flaws, Overwatch 2 is a more balanced game. It’s meant to be more rigid in which teams you can run and how team compositions are formed. It also puts people in roles they’re actually good at, unlike Marvel Rivals. Queuing competitive and getting 6 people who only play DPS on your team is a death sentence for your ranked points.
For those looking for a more balanced, competitive experience, Overwatch 2 is the better choice. If they can bring back the fun factor and really swing for the fences with a big content update, the opportunity is there to win players back. If anything, they’re trying a little too hard to accomplish this goal.
Overwatch accidentally selling a skin that was meant to be a Twitch drop for Season 15 sparked controversy, and the devs gave a lightning-fast response.
Blizzard responded by not only offering a full refund for players who bought it, but also another skin given away for free in the Twitch drops event. They’re going above and beyond to stop negative sentiment in its tracks, and the devs clearly know that it’s a crucial time for the game.
Will the “future” of Overwatch 2 win players back? Hard to say. However, Blizzard making such a push to put their game back on the map is a universal win.
If Overwatch 2 is good enough to be worth going back to (or perhaps trying for the first time for Marvel Rivals players), then NetEase will have to offer something better. If it isn’t, then Marvel Rivals will still be there to enjoy.
As long as these two games are alive and competing within the same space, innovating and evolving in an attempt to outdo each other, both games will be better for it.
For a long time, it felt as if Overwatch 2 was going to die a slow death as players moved on to other titles. But, with the hero shooter genre as a whole getting re-invigorated thanks to Marvel Rivals, Blizzard’s flagship hero shooter has a chance of going out with a fight – or reclaiming that hero shooter crown for itself.