Marvel Rivals Averaging 300,000+ Concurrent Players Weeks After Release

It's been 2 weeks since Marvel Rivals launched and the game has averaged 300,000 concurrent players on Steam alone (the game is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Epic Game Store as well).

Given the similarities in core gameplay, many have claimed the rise of Marvel Rivals means the death of Overwatch. While there's definitely some overlap, it's a bit too early to call the demise of Overwatch, as its survived and remained fairly popular for 8 years (it launched back in 2016).

While Blizzard doesn't release playerbase numbers for Overwatch, the Steam version averages 28,000 players, but most players are off-Steam (on Battle.net launcher and console).

Marvel Rivals currently sits at the #9 most played list on Xbox while Overwatch is at #18. These figures are a huge win for Marvel Rivals, but the question is whether it can maintain its popularity.

The game is almost universally loved on Steam, with an average player score of 9/10, but has a few issues. One that sticks out to me is the deceptive placement of bots in PvP matches. Players in quick play will often run into full teams of enemy bots which are disguised as players. There's discussion on the topic on Reddit here and here.

The deceptive use of bots in 'PvP' modes is nothing new, it's commonplace in mobile games and quickly gaining popularity on PC and console games. The goal seems to be to maximize player enjoyment, but still feels strange as its done deceptively.

Bots don't seem to appear in Ranked, so it seems like Marvel Rivals is going the Fortnite route of using bots in quick play, but not in competitive mode.

Time will tell if Marvel Rivals will truly surpass Overwatch as the hero shooter of choice and given its current momentum, it's definitely possible.