Why has Marvel Rivals playerbase fallen off so hard?

Marvel Rivals saw a huge surge of players at the beginning of 2025 after releasing at the end of 2024. The combination of a recognisable cast of Marvel characters placed within a 6v6 PVP online shooter experience was an instant recipe for success. However, five months down the line, the game has seen a record low for PC players. 

A hyped up game that experiences a steady decline due to various issues is not uncommon in the video game industry. A similar situation happened when CD Projekt Red’s highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 was released due to the bugs and glitches it had when it launched. However, it’s hard to form a full opinion on the subject without diving into the figures, so let’s get into the cold, hard stats of the Marvel Rivals player count.  

While the console figures aren’t as accurate, the PC figures for Marvel Rivals players on Steam are particularly telling. The Marvel Rivals Steam player count has seen a massive downward trajectory since January 2025. 

The stats show that Marvel Rivals’ Steam player count had an all-time peak of 644,269 players at the beginning of January 2025. The player count has continued to drop since then. At the time of writing (May 8th), the Marvel Rivals current player count had a peak of 148,446 players in the past 24 hours. This is a huge drop-off of more than half of the players engaging in the game in January. 

Source: SteamDB

April 2025 saw a slight gain in the Marvel Rivals Steam player count with the release of Season 2. However, the jump is very little compared to the number of new players that the game saw between the release in December to January. 

As mentioned, the data for Marvel Rivals console players isn’t as accurate or up to date, but the figures we can see also show a bit of a drop-off for the game. 

Source: PS-Timetracker 

While the drop-off isn’t as severe as the Marvel Rivals Steam player count, there is still a definite downturn on the PlayStation 5, according to these figures. The drop from the second-most-played game on the PlayStation Network down to the eighth between February and March is particularly prominent, as are the gradually declining player count numbers. The Xbox stats are more difficult to find, but according to Newzoo, the game was the ninth most played on Xbox in March 2025. 

While there hasn’t been a confirmed reason behind the drop in the Marvel Rivals player count, there are plenty of factors to consider that could have had an effect. 

The competitive game mode is causing a fair amount of stress in the Marvel Rivals community, and this could be one of the reasons players are leaving the game. The lack of role queue in competitive games has created various issues, such as problematic team compositions. 

As well as that, individual performance does not seem to be as much of a factor when it comes to rising through the Marvel Rivals ranks. Grinding can get players who are lucky enough to higher ranks, rather than actual skill, which has led to irritation. There has also been a ton of disrespect thrown at support players recently, which has led to Strategist mains refusing to play as their usual characters.

Casual players still have a lot to enjoy with Marvel Rivals, which is great when it comes to those looking to have fun with no-pressure games. However, this seems to have come at the expense of balance in the competitive Marvel Rivals esports scene. 

It is crucial to allow casual players a chance to hop into a game and enjoy themselves. This is especially the case when it comes to accessibility for a broader audience. However, it does lead to players looking for a more challenging ranked experience becoming discouraged, which may also have led to the Marvel Rivals player count drop. 

Developer NetEase has not commented specifically about the player loss, but it is clear that it is trying to address some of the issues that have been thrown its way. The development team is implementing a buff to Strategist characters, as mentioned in the Dev Talk Vol 13 blog. This is a step in the right direction for addressing the problems that could be causing the mass exodus from the game. 

New content and updates are always a welcome addition and can lead to an increase in players. This is clear from the above stats, which show a slight incline in players in April 2025 when Season 2 was released. That being said, NetEase will need to do more if the company wants to see a significant change. 

Competitive balance needs to be addressed. The inclusion of a role queue system could help with this, but regular character rebalances would also be beneficial. The implemented changes to Strategist heroes may well lead to a rise in players when the patch is released, but only time will tell if it will be enough. The devs have also promised more changes that will improve the aforementioned balance problems. 

There is no denying that the Marvel Rivals player count has taken a nosedive over the last few months. The issues surrounding competitive mode and Strategist characters are likely to have affected this, as well as the general hype dying down after initial excitement. However, this is far from the end. NetEase has a lot more on the horizon for Marvel Rivals, such as patches and new heroes. There is likely a ton of planned content that we don’t know about yet, too. 

The dwindling numbers aren’t quite the end of the world for Marvel Rivals. Not yet, anyway. The devs have the opportunity to entice players back to the game, but they will only be able to do so with meaningful changes and open, honest communication with the Marvel Rivals community rather than quick fixes and empty promises.