Overwatch players frustrated as Marvel Rivals releases more heroes than OW2 did all year
BlizzardMarvel Rivals Season 1 will bring the entire Fantastic Four roster to the game, and some Overwatch fans feel left in the dust over the release schedule for new heroes.
Marvel Rivals’ first official season will launch next Monday and bring the entire Fantastic Four cast to the game as playable characters. This will bump up the total number of playable characters in the game from 33 to 37.
The Marvel-themed hero shooter was always bound to overtake Overwatch 2 with the number of playable characters. What’s more unexpected is the staggering rate of content Marvel Rivals is bringing to the table, another stake in the heart of Overwatch 2 as it continues to siphon players to its competition.
Overwatch 2 players can usually expect around three to four new characters per year, excluding an extended period of time where no new content was added during the transition between Overwatch and Overwatch 2. Due to this extensive block of no content, Overwatch 2’s roster only consists of 42 characters after nearly a decade.
While preference over these design philosophies are subjective (there is certainly a world where Marvel Rivals releases content too fast), the gaming community at large has taken notice of the difference between these two games.
Overwatch 2 might need more playable characters
Kelski, a popular content creator who occasionally covers Overwatch 2, was the first to notice the stagger difference of content between the two games. “Not Marvel Rivals adding the same amount of characters in one season that Overwatch adds over the span of a year,” he tweeted. Hoshizora, an Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals streamer, chimed in in agreement. “Clock it,” she replied.”
While some in the community argue Marvel Rivals has a larger background of characters to add to the game (which is admittedly true), Kelski noted that Overwatch 2 still has a decade of lore for the devs to take inspiration from for new characters. He also added that Marvel Rivals’ inclusion of these characters is “not lazy,” and that character kits and team-ups are carefully crafted.
Some Overwatch 2 fans are still bitter about the sloppy sequel. Overwatch 2 streamer DanielFenner tweeted “We waited 4 years with no content for Overwatch to add a 2 to the name and release 3 heroes. Marvels is releasing 4 within a month and will have more than Overwatch?!”
BlizzardOverwatch 2 does have a more involved process to create characters, as Overwatch 2 still needs to design characters from the ground up where Marvel Rivals can simply adapt characters. While this doesn’t necessarily explain the lack of content after a decade from Overwatch 2’s side, it does provide a reasonable explanation for the game’s current release cycle.
“Marvel Rivals probably had a lot of characters ready because the game was supposed to launch 2025 and then had an early release,” tweeted fan @PamPurins. “Marvel has the advantage of being a worldwide beloved franchise of 50+ years while Overwatch does not.”
Marvel Rivals’ aggressive release of content may be lighting a fire under Overwatch 2. The effect of the competition between the two games has yet to be reflected in Overwatch 2 significantly, though the OW devs have stated that they believe competition between the two is healthy.