Posted: January 14, 2025 | Updated: January 14, 2025
In an interview with the British outlet Metro, Marvel Rivals director Guangyun Chen had this to say when asked what cadence players should expect for new heroes being added to the game:
Every season we’ll be rolling out fresh seasonal stories, new maps, and new heroes. We’ll actually be breaking down each season into two halves. The length of one season is three months. And for each half of the season, we will introduce a new hero. We just eventually want to continue to enhance the experience, and, you know, keep everyone excited in our community.
This sounds like an impossible cadence to maintain long-term, so I'll be interested to see how long they'll be able to keep up with it. Even Overwatch hasn't gotten anywhere near that cadence and in fact went multiple years without releasing anything.
A season in Marvel Rivals is three months and we're actually getting four new characters this season, which means by the end of the year we'll have at least 46 characters. In comparison, Overwatch has been out since 2016 and they have 42 characters total.
These are obviously different games with different developers, but it really highlights how quickly the Marvel Rivals developers are expecting to pump content into the game.
Of course, it helps that there's heaps of already established Marvel characters to pull from while Overwatch is creating an entirely new universe without an established pool of characters.
Each season will introduce new buffs, and we can expect new maps eventually. Personally, I find new maps the most exciting aspect of games like this. Overwatch, for instance, has always felt lacking in map variety, and I care much less about the heroes. New maps bring a fresh feel to the game, unlike new heroes, and unfortunately, Overwatch seems content with its limited map roster, much to my disappointment.
Looking forward to all the new content all the same. I can see myself playing this for a long time.