Marvel Rivals’ record-breaking success once again brought to light the mistakes that Firewalk Studios made while developing Concord.
Marvel Rivals’ reception was amazing. Live-service games suffered a lot this year, and a few were even removed from the market after their launch. At this crucial point, when NetEase Games announced Marvel Rivals, players were kind of scared that this game would meet the same fate as one PlayStation hero-shooter that was removed within fifteen days after it was officially out.
Marvel Rivals has taken the world by storm since it was released. Image Credit: NetEase Games.Since Concord was withdrawn from the market, players and critics expressed different reasons behind this tragic failure of the game or whether there’s any chance for the game to make a return. Even the game director of Marvel Rivals also offered his views on this pathetic failure of Sony’s first-person hero shooter game released in August 2024.
Marvel Rivals Game Director Pointed Out a Vital Reason Behind Concord’s Downfall
Marvel Rivals and Concord are both hero-shooter games, but the latter was a first-person game, whereas the former is a third-person shooter. The success that NetEase Games’ latest shooter has already earned was beyond expectation. Now, with success comes comparison, and naturally, it has drawn its comparison to another hugely successful hero-shooter game, Overwatch 2.
There’s another part of the community that draws a comparison with another game that was unfortunately removed after its release. After NetEase Games’ latest hero-shooter earned record-breaking success on Steam, players of course get curious about the secret that worked for Marvel Rivals, and PlayStation’s August release lacks it.
About that, during a podcast, the game director of Marvel Rivals, Thaddeus Sasser, expressed his point of view and mentioned that Concord “didn’t bring any unique value” compared to other established hero-shooter games like Overwatch 2.
While talking about the reason behind the game’s downfall, another important reason that Sasser highlighted is that the game has no switching cost. He mentioned,
There’s a switching cost. I’ve already invested in Overwatch, I’ve got 15 skins for Pharah, I’m not going anywhere.
Additionally, he mentioned the unpredictable market structure where games that look like blockbusters before release become super flops after they come out and vice versa. Therefore, until players respond, it’s hard to determine as a developer how a game will perform.
Thaddeus Sasser Shed Light on the Trick That Leads Marvel Rivals to Success
Marvel Rivals worked on one feature that led it to success. Image Credit: NetEase Games.
The unpredictable nature of the gaming market is indeed a problem for developers, where no one can perfectly predict what’s going to happen to a game. But still, some points can increase a game’s chance of success. Of course, story and gameplay mechanics play a vital role; something else adds more value to it.
The most important aspect that ensures a game’s success is to create a reason for the gamers to play the game. A reason that’s unique and attractive. Sasser highlighted that Marvel Rivals has perfectly focused on that point with the theme of the superhero. He elaborated on this point, saying,
I don’t know about you, but when I heard the concept of the game I was like ‘Oh my God I want to go be Storm in a game’, ‘I want to go be Doctor Strange in a game’. I want to be those heroes in the game, that sounds awesome.
Superheroes are emotionally attached to players. They have seen these characters doing heroic or villainous activities that impacted all mankind. Therefore, it is natural that gamers would love to play the role of their favorite character. That’s the USP behind Marvel Rivals’ success.
The game reached a peak of 10 million players worldwide within 72 hours, and immediately after its launch, it flooded Steam with 444,286 concurrent players.
These numbers clearly show that NetEase Game has done its job perfectly well to make the game reach the peak where it is currently standing.
