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

Dataminers exploring the code of Marvel Rivals have recently stumbled upon lists of potential future characters, sparking rumors that the game's developers, NetEase and Marvel, might be trolling them. However, both NetEase and Marvel have clarified that their focus remains on developing the game rather than playing pranks on the community.

The speculation began when dataminers uncovered names of possible upcoming heroes, some of which were quickly confirmed with the official announcement of the Fantastic Four. As more names surfaced, a theory emerged within the community that some of these were fake entries planted by the developers to mislead dataminers. The debate continues over which of the datamined characters might actually be in development.

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, explaining that the presence of names in the code could reflect past explorations that may or may not materialize into future content. "So firstly we want to say that we don't recommend anybody to make adjustments to the files [of the game]," Wu stated. "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 to this, likening the situation to finding an old notebook filled with ideas. "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 deliberately trolling the community, Koo firmly denied it, stating, "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. They plan updates roughly a year in advance and aim to add new characters every month and a half. The selection process involves assessing what type of character and skillset is needed to balance the game and add variety to the roster. Wu noted that their strategy for game balance focuses on introducing new characters and experiences rather than extensively tweaking existing ones. Once a list of potential characters is compiled, they collaborate with Marvel Games to refine initial designs, taking into account community excitement and upcoming Marvel projects in other media like films or comics.

This approach explains the presence of numerous hero names in the game's code, as NetEase continuously explores various ideas. Marvel Rivals has been well-received since its launch, and the addition of new characters like the Human Torch and The Thing, set to join on February 21, continues to enhance the game's appeal. Additionally, Wu and Koo discussed the potential for a Nintendo Switch 2 release, details of which can be found in a separate article.