Marvel Rivals’ Bold Idea For New Heroes Sounds Cool on Paper, But It’s a Controversy Waiting to Happen

Marvel Rivals may have lost a bit of steam in the months since release, but it remains a hugely popular hero shooter, and NetEase has big plans to pick up the pace in terms of support for the game. Beginning with Season 3, Marvel Rivals will be releasing a new hero every single month with seasons only being two months long. Changes will be made to battle pass progression as a result, while the Unstable Molecules currency will be added to the passes to let players earn skin recolors and the new Ultimate animations free-of-charge. With Jean Grey joining the lineup of playable characters, and Blade following just four weeks later, there is plenty to be excited about – though one proposition from NetEase is a bit more concerning than it is exciting.

In an interview with VideoGamer, NetEase talked about how important player feedback from the Marvel Rivals community is, even going so far as to suggest that said fan base could determine future character additions. Specifically, NetEase suggested that players may soon be able to “vote” on who will be added to the game in future updates. While there have been unofficial polls in the past through social media platforms like X and Discord, this wording makes it seem like these votes would be significantly more impactful. And though it would be a nice gesture to actually let gamers shape the hero roster for Marvel Rivals, putting this much power in the hands of a community is a slippery slope.

Marvel Rivals Reveals Gameplay of Jean Grey

Marvel Rivals gives players their first look at gameplay of the upcoming Season 3 Duelist Jean Grey in NetEase Games’ popular hero shooter.

Why Marvel Rivals Players Voting on Future Heroes Could Be a Disaster

There are a number of reasons why NetEase letting players shape this aspect of its game could be a bad idea, such as:

Marvel Rivals’ toxic community: While the game hasn’t reached League of Legends’ level of toxicity yet, it has been a growing problem, as streamers like Ninja have given up on the game due to its rude player base. If hero voting were to be implemented, it could result in plenty of fights where players lash out at a character and its fans for beating their preferred choice.
Marvel Rivals’ role popularity coming into play: Just like with Damage in Overwatch 2, it’s no secret that Duelist is the most popular role, with it having the largest hero pool to support that fan base. The game’s Vanguard community, on the other hand, is the smallest. With this in mind, if players are ever put in a position where they have to vote between a Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist, the Duelist will be most likely to win due to the sheer size of the fan base, with Vanguard players facing an uphill battle.
Good Marvel Rivals character concepts being delayed or scrapped: Assuming that Marvel Rivals’ hero voting works like Minecraft’s mob vote, then players could be shown three amazing concepts at a time and have to choose just one of them, with the others either delayed for long periods of time or never releasing at all.
Only Marvel’s most popular heroes could make the cut: If a Marvel fan had to determine the launch roster for Rivals, it’s hard to imagine niche picks like Jeff or Luna making the cut. If players don’t vote by roles, then they’ll vote purely on who is the most recognizable character, meaning NetEase won’t be able to make bold additions and introduce deep cut characters as often as it hoped.

With these concerns in mind, there’s good reason to be worried about character additions being determined by the Marvel Rivals fan base. Since players have often been at odds with one another, from the Support strike to endless debates about balancing and metas, it’s hard to imagine the community could reach a consensus on what it actually wants from new heroes. NetEase has largely done a good job with making decisions for its game, too, so hopefully it will continue to pick which heroes the game gets and when they will be added. That said, the idea of community voting doesn’t have to be entirely avoided.

Community Votes Could Work in Marvel Rivals, Just Not as the Main Form of Hero Additions

While players voting for each of Marvel Rivals’ monthly heroes is playing with fire, there are ways such a system could be added without harming the game. Perhaps players could vote for a new hero once a year, similar to the Hellfire Gala event’s skin voting. This way, a majority of the characters would still be chosen by NetEase, ensuring there’s variety as opposed to only the most popular character or role getting love. Alternatively, players could vote between three finished heroes, deciding the midseason character addition while NetEase picks the launch hero. Instead of good ideas being abandoned like Minecraft’s controversial mob vote, players could simply be deciding the order of the next three midseason releases, with the heroes that aren’t picked coming in future seasons. Voting for maps and seasonal themes could also be a good way to involve the community without letting it have too much say, as NetEase giving away too much control could be more problematic for Marvel Rivals than exciting.