How Many Players Did Marvel Rivals Get in the First 3 Days?

It feels like the year has been building up to the launch of Marvel Rivals, and the Overwatch clone from NetEase Games is getting nothing but stellar reviews online.

With the player count expected to increase over the next few months, NetEase has revealed that they actually managed to amass millions of players for opening weekend.

Marvel Rivals Launch Weekend Player Count

According to the official announcement, NetEase managed to gather a whopping 10 million players over the first three days of the game’s launch.

For context, Overwatch 2 is said to have 20 million monthly active players since it launched in 2022. Admittedly, it’s said to have lost close to 400,000 players since its peak, but as it stands, 20 million is the number that fans think Marvel Rivals should catch up to if it ever wants to beat Overwatch in its own game.

Early Reactions to Marvel Rivals

click to enlarge

Credit: NetEase | fair use for promotional purposes

To nobody’s surprise, reactions have been overwhelmingly great for Marvel Rivals. After years of several attempts at AAA Marvel Games—like Avengers: A-Day—fans are finally breathing a sigh of relief that the Marvel Games division has finally released what can be considered a hit.

Though the influence from Overwatch is clear, many fans seem to think that Rivals has learned from the mistakes of several other OW clones before it and has come up with a winning formula that should please all kinds of Marvel fans, from moviegoers to comic lovers.

Though reactions have been positive, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all is well. Rivals is also plagued with issues fans think could be fixed in the game’s first patch. For one, several complaints have been launched about how the game’s roster of heroes is unbalanced and characters like Iron Fist are being abused by several players.

Several characters have been deemed overpowered and broken, and even some Vanguard heroes aren’t as tank-y as players would expect them to be. The game has also been reporting some server errors, and several complaints can be spotted online.

Excelsior, True Believers!

Though there are some problems with the game, many players can’t help but talk about the fun they’re having with Marvel Rivals. Oddly enough, the most buzzed-about characters are more obscure heroes like Squirrel Girl and the healer duo Cloak and Dagger; there’s barely been any buzz on MCU mainstays like Captain America or Thor.

The community for Marvel Rivals is undoubtedly slowly building a meta. With more players and changes expected to come to the game, it looks like this Overwatch clone is going to have a few good years of constant growth and audience discussion.

With the movies admittedly at a low point, Marvel Rivals is a win that the IP has needed since Avengers: Endgame came out in 2019.

Catch Marvel Rivals now playable for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S.