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Marvel Rivals developer NetEase Games has been under fire for its publisher’s “sad culling” of American developers, but the Chinese developers still working hard on the game’s future. With the arrival of the Human Torch and The Thing, Rivals players are being treated to a bigger update than usual.
However, the team behind Marvel Rivals is also taking a different approach for the future of the game. While the game has received rapid patches since launch, the cadence of updates is expected to slow down in the future as the team aims to stick to major adjustments alongside the release of big updates.
Marvel Rivals patches to slow down
Revealed in the latest Dev Vision update, lead combat designer Zhiyong explained that, outside of huge season updates every month-and-a-half, sweeping balance changes won’t be as regular as they have in the past.
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Instead, the team aims to keep watch over the state of the game and adjust specific heroes or abilities when they’re found to be an issue.
“Here’s our plan: we’re sticking to our overall balance adjustments schedule and rolling them out with big updates for the first and second halves of the season,” the combat designer explained. “If we spot any urgent issues, we will swoop in with one quick adjustment to keep everything running smoothly.”
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Zhiyong explained that the team will keep observing the state of the game and “only interfere during the season when necessary”. The combat designer explained that the team is committed to being “careful” with future changes to keep the game within a “stable play environment”.
Since Marvel Rivals’ launch, the game has seen far quicker patch releases than expected. As the combat designer explains, the original plan was to keep major overhauls to season and mid-season updates, similar to other live-service games. With new heroes coming every month-and-a-half, we can expect future balance patches to come alongside the new characters.
For more Rivals coverage, check out our interview with ex-director Thaddeus Sasser, or read the latest patch notes for the popular multiplayer game.
Marvel Rivals
Platform(s):
macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
Genre(s):
Fighting, Shooter
