Marvel Rivals Lost 85% of Its Playerbase in Less Than a Year
In the cutthroat arena of hero shooters, Marvel Rivals exploded onto the scene with Marvel’s A-list roster and blistering 6v6 battles, but just 10 months after launch, the free-to-play phenom has hemorrhaged 85% of its peak playerbase, dropping from 644,000 concurrent Steam users to a shaky 98,000 as of October 2025—raising red flags about its staying power against giants like Overwatch 2.
The slide started subtly after Marvel Rivals’ triumphant December 2024 debut, where it lured over 10 million players in 72 hours with destructible maps, team-up synergies, and icons like Spider-Man and Hulk trading ults in chaotic payloads. By January 2025, it shattered Steam records at 644,269 concurrents, siphoning crowds from rivals and topping PSN charts. But the honeymoon soured fast: monthly dips snowballed through spring, with February alone shedding 32% (206,000 players), March another 33.7%, and even April’s Season 2 “Hellfire Gala” bump couldn’t stem the tide—averages plummeting 80% by May to around 150,000 peaks. Fast-forward to now, and SteamDB charts paint a grim portrait: September’s daily averages hovered at 64,000, with lows dipping to 30,000 last week. NetEase’s superhero slugfest isn’t deserted yet—console queues hum along, and 98,000 concurrents still outpace many indies—but the relentless downward spiral screams retention crisis in a genre where live-service longevity is king.
Here’s the TL;DR...
Peak to Plunge: Marvel Rivals hit 644,269 concurrent Steam players in January 2025 but cratered 85% to 98,000 by October, with averages falling from 300,000+ to under 65,000 monthly.
Decline Drivers: Blame matchmaking mismatches deciding games pre-start, toxic ranked stress, rapid-fire hero drops sparking balance woes, and players drifting back to polished staples amid 2025’s blockbuster distractions.
Vs. the Competition: Dwarfs Overwatch 2’s steady 25,000–35,000 Steam peaks (despite a 39% OW2 dip post-Rivals launch); trails Valorant’s millions but edges Paladins’ niche 5,000–10,000; echoes Apex Legends’ early wobbles but lacks its rebound.
Silver Lining?: Season 4’s September push and upcoming Ultron/Emma Frost tweaks hint at recovery potential, but without esports depth or community fixes, the bleed could worsen.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Tracking Marvel Rivals’ Brutal Slide
Dig into SteamDB, and Marvel Rivals’ arc reads like a classic rise-and-fall tale. Launch month (December 2024) buzzed with 40 million registered users by February, fueled by cross-play accessibility and Marvel’s crossover allure—no paywall, just pure payload pandemonium. January’s zenith? A jaw-dropping 644k concurrents, eclipsing Overwatch 2’s all-time Steam high by miles and briefly tying it for top hero shooter spot.
But cracks showed early. By March 2025, peaks hovered at 200k, a 70% shave from zenith. April’s Season 2—ushering Emma Frost and gala glamour—sparked an 8.6% uptick to 159k, but May’s all-time low of 152k (post-Hellfire hype) signaled trouble. June through August averaged 100k–130k, with Reddit rants decrying “historic lows” at 96k. September’s Season 4 launch? A tepid 132k day-one peak, the weakest yet, per Esports Insider. October’s 98k feels “healthy” in isolation, as Forbes’ Paul Tassi notes, but the trendline? A sheer cliff, with no floor in sight. Console data’s fuzzier—PSN ranks tumbled from #2 to #8 by March—but Newzoo pegs Xbox at #9 then, implying cross-platform bleed mirrors PC’s woes.
What Tanked the Team-Ups? Matchmaking Mayhem and Balance Blues
No single villain here, but the suspects stack up like a poorly comped quick play. Top gripe: matchmaking. Players howl that it “decides winners before kickoff,” stacking lobbies with skill gaps that turn tanks into sitting ducks or healers into hard carries. Season 2’s rank reset amplified fury. Without role queue (unlike Overwatch 2), DPS mains flood queues, birthing unbalanced brawls and soft-inting sobs.
Then there’s the content churn. NetEase’s monthly hero drops sound heroic, but the fast paced release causes some heroes to be left in the dust while others define entire seasons. Meta mayhem. Underpowered debuts? Frustration fests. Balancing a 30+ roster amid destructible arenas? A herculean headache, breeding toxicity in ranked, where “flaming lobbies” and disconnects rule, per community threads. Add 2025’s deluge—GTA VI whispers, Black Myth: Wukong echoes—and casuals chase shinier fads.
Stacking Up: How Marvel Rivals Fares Against Hero Shooter Heavyweights
Marvel Rivals entered a bloodbath, aping Overwatch’s 6v6 soul with Marvel flair, but numbers tell a tale of unfulfilled promise. Overwatch 2? Steady eddy at 25k–35k Steam peaks in 2025 (down 39% post-Rivals launch, per forums), buoyed by esports polish and decade-deep lore—yet Rivals briefly tripled it in January. Now? Neck-and-neck, with Rivals edging ahead on raw spectacle but lagging in retention; OW2’s “rigged” queues gripe less thanks to role locks.
Valorant towers, clocking millions daily across Riot’s ecosystem—Rivals never sniffed that, lacking tactical depth for sweatier crowds. Paladins, the free-to-play underdog, limps at 5k–10k Steam averages, its cartoon chaos no match for Marvel’s sheen, but it boasts stability Rivals craves. Closest kin? Apex Legends: Respawn’s battle royale hybrid dipped post-2021 Steam debut but climbed to 624k peaks by 2023 via smart seasons. Rivals’ 85% nosedive? The anti-Apex, per Tassi: “No growth curve—just gravity.” Streams Charts notes Rivals crushed OW2’s launch viewership in February (miles ahead in channels and hours watched), but sustained hype? Fizzled, as casual Marvel fans binged once and bounced.
Yet hope flickers. Apex rebounded with community tweaks; Rivals’ $3M Ignite tourney in May drew eyes, and Season 4’s Heart of the Storm mode aims to reignite raids. As Gfinity Esports puts it, “Fads fade, but loyal cores endure—Rivals has found its squad, now nurture it.” With 77k daily actives mid-September (ActivePlayer.io), it’s no corpse—just a hero needing a comeback arc. NetEase’s next patch could be the Infinity Stone: fix the queues, slow the hero spam, amp the esports, and watch webslingers return. Otherwise, in this multiverse of maybes, Marvel Rivals risks fading to footnote.
Hat Tips
Forbes: ‘Marvel Rivals’ Has Lost 85% Of Its Players In 10 Months
SteamDB: Marvel Rivals Steam Charts
GameRant: Marvel Rivals Player Count is Dropping Dramatically Nearly Every Month
Esports Insider: Why Has Marvel Rivals Playerbase Fallen Off So Hard?
Screen Rant: I’ve Played Marvel Rivals Since Launch, & I’m Convinced This Is The Reason For Its All-Time Low Player Count
Streams Charts: Marvel Rivals vs Overwatch 2: Livestreaming Battle Analysis
The 85% player drop actually reflects NetEase's typical live service learning curve more than a fatal flaw. Your analysis of the matchmaking deciding games pre start is exactly what killed Overwatch 1's casul base, and NetEase hasn't learned from Blizzard's mistakes. The monthly hero cadence without proper balance testing creates the meta whiplash you described where entire seasons get defined by overtuned releases. Still, 98k concurrent is massive for a shooter that isn't Valorant or Apex, and if NetEase can fix queues before Season 5 they might actually stabilize retention.