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 stumbled upon lists of potential future characters, sparking speculation that the developers at NetEase and Marvel might be playing a clever game of misdirection. While some of these characters, like the Fantastic Four, were quickly confirmed, others have led to rumors that the developers are planting fake names to mislead the community. The debate continues among fans about which of these datamined heroes might actually make it into the game.

In a recent interview, Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo addressed these rumors head-on. Wu emphasized the complexity of character design, stating, "So firstly we want to say that we don't recommend anybody to make adjustments to the files [of the game]. 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 a humorous analogy, likening the situation to finding a notebook full of scratch work left behind by a developer. When directly asked if they were trolling the community, Koo firmly denied it, saying, "No. We would rather spend our time developing the actual game."

The conversation also shed light on the process of selecting new characters for Marvel Rivals. Wu explained that the team plans updates about a year in advance, aiming to introduce new characters every month and a half. The focus is on adding new characters to maintain balance and freshness, rather than constantly tweaking existing ones. NetEase considers what type of character and skillset is needed to enhance the game's variety and balance, creating a list of potential additions. These suggestions are then taken to Marvel Games, where initial designs are developed, taking into account community excitement and upcoming Marvel projects across different media.

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, with new characters like the Human Torch and The Thing set to join the roster on February 21, further enhancing the game's appeal. Additionally, Wu and Koo discussed the potential for a Nintendo Switch 2 release, which you can read more about [ttpp].