NetEase believes that the gaming market is big enough for its title Marvel Rivals to co-exist with competing game Overwatch 2. In a recent earnings call (transcription via Yahoo Finance), the company responded to questions surrounding the future growth for Marvel Rivals, and how NetEase plans to compete with the recent relaunch of Overwatch 2 in China.
The question came in light of Blizzard’s hero shooter returning to China through NetEase. This means the latter now has two of the most popular hero shooters under its umbrella for the Chinese market. NetEase also runs the Chinese servers for other Blizzard titles World of Warcraft and Hearthstone.
“The expectations for Overwatch are similar to those for World of Warcraft and Hearthstone,” said NetEase. “The aim is to revitalize the product and reach new highs. Both Marvel Rivals and Overwatch are excellent superhero shooters, and the market is large enough to accommodate both games. NetEase will strive to meet the diverse demands of their respective player communities.”
The company also spoke about how it plans on capitalizing Marvel Rivals‘ current position in the market for more growth down the line. It said that investments in development and marketing will continue and that there are also plans for esports.
“Marvel Rivals has gained wide acclaim, especially after Season 1,” said NetEase when asked about its plans for the growth of Marvel Rivals. “NetEase plans to continue investing in development and marketing with a long-term operational strategy. The team has plans for esports and will announce these plans to enhance the gaming ecosystem. There will also be crossover events and promotions with other media to expand the user base.”
Since its launch back in December, Marvel Rivals has been incredibly popular. This can be chalked up to a number of factors like its competent gameplay elements, the massive popularity of the Marvel IP, and the fact that it is free-to-play. It being available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, complete with cross-platform multiplayer also likely helped.
NetEase Games revealed back in February that the competitive multiplayer hero shooter had amassed more than 40 million players. It was a trend that continued right from its launch, back when it got more than 10 million players within 72 hours of release, and crossed 20 million shortly afterwards.
In light of this growth, however, NetEase also shut down the Seattle-based development team that helped work on Marvel Rivals. In a statement, a NetEase representative referred to the move as being done to “optimize development efficiency for the game”.
NetEase has also reportedly started pulling out of its non-Chinese investments in the gaming industry. The reasons for these moves are speculated to be because, along with some of its investments not paying off as well as it hoped, there are also mounting geopolitical tensions.
The Blood of Dawnwalker developer Rebel Wolves, however, has stated that its operations won’t be affected by NetEase’s recent moves. Studios under NetEase’s overall banner, including Quantic Dream, have also stated that operations are continuing as normal, with game development being full steam ahead.
