Marvel Rivals Devs Focus on Game Development, Not Trolling Dataminers

Dataminers exploring the code of Marvel Rivals have stumbled upon lists of potential future characters, sparking rumors that the developers, NetEase and Marvel, might be trolling them. However, both companies assert they are focused on developing the game rather than engaging in pranks.

Last month, dataminers began sharing names of heroes they found hidden in the game's code. The discovery of the Fantastic Four among these names led to quick confirmations, but as more names surfaced, speculation arose that some could be decoys planted by the developers to mislead dataminers. The community remains divided on which, if any, of these datamined characters will actually make it into the game.

In a recent interview, Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo addressed these rumors. Wu emphasized the complexity of character design, stating, "So firstly we want to say that we don't recommend anybody to make adjustments to the files [of the game]. Also, you can see that for each character's design actually we come through a very complicated process and we make a lot of concepts, trials, prototypes, development, et cetera. So there could be some information left in the code, and it might mean that we have tried those directions and they may appear or may not appear in our future plans. And whether or not they will appear in our future pipeline is highly depending on what kind of gameplay experience our players would expect in our game."

Koo added, "If I could have a ten-year plan, it'd be great. But the team experimented with a lot of play styles, heroes. It was like there's someone doing scratch paperwork and then just left a notebook there, and someone [a dataminer] decided to open it with no context." When directly asked if they were trolling, Koo firmly replied, "No. We would rather spend our time developing the actual game."

During the same conversation, Wu and Koo explained the process of selecting new characters for Marvel Rivals. The team plans updates roughly a year in advance and aims to introduce new characters every month and a half. NetEase focuses on balancing the game by adding new characters rather than tweaking existing ones extensively. They consider what type of character and skillset is needed to enhance the roster's variety and balance. After generating a list of potential additions, they collaborate with Marvel Games on initial designs, taking into account community excitement and upcoming Marvel projects across different media. This thorough process explains the presence of numerous hero names in the game's code, reflecting the many ideas NetEase explores.

Marvel Rivals has been well-received since its launch, with each new character addition enhancing the game's appeal. The Human Torch and The Thing are the latest heroes set to join the roster on February 21. Additionally, Wu and Koo discussed the potential for a Marvel Rivals release on the Nintendo Switch 2, which you can read about in a separate article.