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A Bunch of Ex-Overwatch Players Reportedly Jumped Ship to Marvel Rivals

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On April 10, 2025

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Summary

Nearly half of Overwatch 2 players who quit in December 2024 switched to Marvel Rivals, according to a report.
Overwatch 2 has experienced a decline in player retention, with Marvel Rivals playing a role.
Marvel Rivals is about to begin Season 2, and NetEase hopes to continue to bring in new players.

A new report has revealed that nearly half of Overwatch 2 players who quit the game in December 2024 jumped ship to Marvel Rivals. Many gamers have suspected that Marvel Rivals drew players away from Blizzard’s team-based hero shooter, but this report has given a better idea to what extent.

Few games generated the same hype as Marvel Rivals did leading up to its December 2024 release. As a team-based hero shooter, the comparisons with Overwatch 2 were evident. However, developer NetEase looked to distinguish its game by leveraging the popularity of the Marvel franchise, providing interpretations of comic book characters that many fans enjoyed. This resulted in Marvel Rivals smashing expectations, gaining hundreds of thousands of players on platforms like Steam.

Marvel Rivals reveals Season 2 Twitch Drops.

Marvel Rivals Announces Season 2 Twitch Drops

Marvel Rivals announces that fans will soon be able to claim a new round of Twitch Drops associated with Season 2 of NetEase Games’ hero shooter.

As spotted by Insider Gaming, a new gaming industry report from NewZoo has provided more details about the game’s successful launch and how it impacted Overwatch 2. Specifically, the report found that 45% of Overwatch 2 players who quit in December 2024 decided to play Marvel Rivals instead. These ex-Overwatch players contributed to the impressive numbers the NetEase game had surrounding its launch. As noted in the report, Marvel Rivals was one of the most popular games of the year. According to the data, it was the eighth most-played title on Steam for 2024. In addition, Marvel Rivals was the third most-played 2024 game on the platform, only falling behind Helldivers 2 and Palworld. However, it is worth noting that both those games came out much earlier in the year, allowing them to accrue more total playtime.

Overwatch 2 Has Seen a Decline in Players Partly Due to Marvel Rivals

While this industry report from NewZoo evidenced the success of Marvel Rivals, it also revealed the decline of Overwatch 2. Based on the data, Overwatch 2 had an 8% decline in its free-to-play playtime contribution in 2024. In addition, the report showed that the nostalgia from the Overwatch Classic event for the game could only sustain player interest for a short time, with the daily active user index revealing a 26% decline in engagement. This decline coincided with Marvel Rivals launch, which happened four days after the Overwatch Classic event had wrapped up.

It will be interesting to see what the rest of 2025 brings for Marvel Rivals. As the NewZoo report showed, the game played a significant factor in the growth of free-to-play gaming in 2024 despite its end-of-the-year release. Nevertheless, the game must find ways to continue its momentum if it wants to sustain player engagement. Fortunately, NetEase has Season 2 of Marvel Rivals on the way and has recently revealed that it will release new heroes more frequently. Time will tell if that can keep it near the top of player count lists throughout the rest of the year.