Marvel Rivals Dev Says They're Not Trolling Dataminers - 'We'd Rather Spend Our Time Developing the Game'

Marvel Rivals dataminers believe developers are playfully misleading them with lists of potential future characters hidden within the game's code. However, NetEase and Marvel claim their focus lies on game development, not elaborate pranks.

Last month, dataminers uncovered names of potential heroes within Marvel Rivals' code, some of which were quickly confirmed with the Fantastic Four's official announcement. However, as more names surfaced, speculation arose that some were intentionally misleading.

Currently, the community debates the legitimacy of these datamined characters. We directly asked Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo about this alleged "troll." While denying any intentional deception, they advised caution regarding the code's contents. Wu explained that the development process involves numerous concepts, prototypes, and trials, leaving traces in the code. The inclusion of these characters in future updates depends on player feedback and desired gameplay experiences. Koo compared the situation to finding an old, contextless notebook filled with brainstorming ideas. He emphasized their priority is game development, not elaborate hoaxes.

In the same conversation, we discussed character selection for Marvel Rivals. Updates are planned roughly a year in advance, aiming for a new character every month and a half. NetEase prioritizes balancing the roster and adding variety. They assess character types and skill sets needed, creating a list of potential additions. Their strategy emphasizes adding new characters over extensively tweaking existing ones, aiming to maintain freshness and address gameplay imbalances. These suggestions are then presented to Marvel Games, considering community interest and aligning with upcoming Marvel films or comic arcs. This process explains the extensive list of heroes in the code—a reflection of NetEase's ongoing brainstorming.

Marvel Rivals launched successfully, and each new character enhances the game. The Human Torch and The Thing are slated to join the roster on February 21st. We also discussed the possibility of a Nintendo Switch 2 release (details available elsewhere).