Marvel Rivals player count surpasses ten million in three days

NetEase Games announced that Marvel Rivals surpassed ten million players in total just three days after its release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

“In just 72 hours, we’ve reached an incredible milestone of 10 million players worldwide,” the new title’s social media stated. “We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you. Let’s ignite the battle together!”

Marvel Rivals launched as a free-to-play game on December 6, 2024, essentially combining the allure of Overwatch’s gameplay with the rich setting of Marvel’s comic book universe. Reaching over 480,000 concurrent users on Steam over its first weekend, the hero shooter follows in the footsteps of hits like Helldivers 2, Palworld, and Manor Lords as a massively successful launch.

That peak of close to half a million players propelled Marvel Rivals into the top five most-played games on Steam over the weekend – it was only beaten by Valve’s mainstays of Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2, battle royale juggernaut PUBG: Battlegrounds, and Path of Exile 2 – another game that was released on Friday.

A healthy player count is certainly a great start for NetEase’s latest title, though it’s clear that the developers have some work ahead of them as well: Aside from the balance issues you’d expect to show themselves once you unleash millions of players on the game, a common point of user feedback seems to be a lack of feedback when dealing damage, which leads to attacks feeling like hitting someone with a wet noodle.

Connection issues are a persistent companion for some players as well – teething problems, in short.

Make sure to check out the best Marvel Rivals characters for beginners in every role if you’re planning to join the battle.