Strip away the talking points and what remains is a fundamental business reality: NetEase Games has such a vast archive of Marvel characters to draw from that creating original heroes is not a priority.
Speaking at the Game Developers Conference this week, creative director Guangyun Chen and executive producer Danny Koo explained why Marvel Rivals will not introduce original characters in the foreseeable future. The developers are eager to explore each character in the Marvel Comics universe, and the most important aspect they evaluate when selecting a new hero is that the new character stands out from others already in the game. At 48 playable heroes as of Season 7, that library is far from exhausted.
"We have so many right now," Koo said when asked about original characters. "It's not the time." While NetEase was allowed to introduce original characters by Marvel, the studio sees no immediate reason to pursue that option when Marvel's own pantheon remains largely untapped.
Consider the strategic logic here. Marvel has been publishing comics since 1939, spawning thousands of characters across decades of stories, multiple media formats, and interconnected universes. Koo explicitly ruled out external crossovers or collaborations beyond the Marvel family. "Non-Marvel? We have so many characters in Marvel, we're not looking at outside of Marvel," he explained. Pursuing Fortnite-style crossovers with properties outside the Marvel umbrella would be redundant when the studio's own licence offers such an expansive pool.
The real operational challenge is not game balance. NetEase evaluates whether new characters stand out from the others already in the game, and Koo expressed confidence that managing an expanding roster presents no mechanical difficulty. Instead, the bottleneck is UI design. "I don't think heroes will be a problem," Koo said. "It's more about UI optimization." As the roster swells further, presenting players with intuitive ways to navigate, favourite, and select from dozens of characters becomes increasingly complex.
NetEase's strategy reflects mature live-service thinking. From Season 3 onwards, the studio revealed that each season would last two months rather than three, resulting in a new hero each month. With planning cycles extending roughly one year ahead, the developers have secured their content pipeline well into 2027. Adding a hero monthly from an existing roster of thousands is far more efficient than developing new intellectual property from scratch.
The counter-argument deserves serious consideration. Some players argue that original characters could foster deeper community investment and differentiate Marvel Rivals from competitors in a crowded hero-shooter market. Creating distinct personalities might build broader narrative investment than adapting existing comic characters. Yet this perspective misses what NetEase has already demonstrated: the game attracted 20 million players within 10 days of launch and became one of the year's most successful Marvel titles. The existing library works.
History will judge this moment by whether NetEase can sustain player interest through Marvel's existing catalogue or whether, years hence, the studio regrets leaving original characters untapped. For now, the pragmatic choice is clear. When you have access to decades of established characters, proven fan attachments, and a backlog sufficient for years of monthly releases, inventing new heroes is a luxury, not a necessity.