Dataminers of Marvel Rivals have been buzzing with excitement and speculation over potential future characters hidden within the game's code. The excitement reached a fever pitch last month when the Fantastic Four were officially announced, seemingly confirming some of the datamined heroes. However, as more names surfaced, a different narrative emerged within the community: some believed the developers were planting fake names to mislead dataminers.
The community remains divided on the authenticity of these datamined characters, with debates continuing over which, if any, will actually be added to the game. In a recent interview, Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo addressed these rumors head-on. They clarified that no deliberate trolling was taking place, but advised taking the datamined information with a grain of salt.
Wu explained, "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, "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 asked directly about trolling, Koo firmly stated, "No. We would rather spend our time developing the actual game."
In the same discussion, Wu and Koo shared insights into how characters are selected for Marvel Rivals. The team plans updates approximately a year in advance, maintaining a steady pace of adding new characters every month and a half. NetEase focuses on balancing the game by introducing new characters that add variety, fill gaps, and counterbalance existing ones, rather than aggressively tweaking current characters.
The process involves creating a list of potential additions based on the needed skillset and character type. These suggestions are then reviewed with Marvel Games, and initial designs are developed. The final decision considers community excitement and upcoming Marvel projects, such as films or comic arcs, to ensure a cohesive and engaging experience.
This explains the presence of numerous hero names in the game's code, reflecting NetEase's ongoing brainstorming and experimentation. Marvel Rivals has been well-received since its launch, with each new character enhancing the game's appeal. The latest additions, Human Torch and The Thing, are set to join the roster on February 21.
For more on Marvel Rivals, including discussions about a potential Nintendo Switch 2 release, check out our related article.
