‘We balance for fun, first and foremost’: Marvel Games’ executive producer discusses Marvel Rivals’ priorities and why competitive balancing comes second

Marvel Rivals has already established itself as one of the go-to hero shooters, but unlike most other options, there’s less of an onus placed on competitive balancing—instead, NetEase is more focused on making the game as fun as possible.

“So every character we balance for fun, first and foremost, as in if the character is fun or not [to play], that’s always number one,” Danny Koo, executive producer of Marvel Games, tells PC Gamer in an interview at GDC. “And then the team has data on win rates, making sure that no one character is too painful and oppressive so that everybody’s still having fun. But that’s secondary.”

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s spent even a minute in Marvel Rivals. The team fights are chaotic, there are numerous ridiculously powerful abilities and ultimates like Storm’s Tornado, Jeff the Land Shark’s team-wiping gulp, or Cloak and Dagger’s Eternal Bond ult, the map destruction and regen can be quite jarring, and with no role queue, team compositions can be all over the place.

For the competitive side of the game, all that havoc can make a Marvel Rivals match overwhelming and slightly out of control, but NetEase believes this disorder is what makes the casual side of the game so much fun. “This game is built to be more acceptable for casual play,” Koo says. “People just want to have fun at the end of the day—that balance for fun is always the key number one priority of anything.”

Almost every hero in Marvel Rivals is great fun to play. There’s such a wide variety of abilities and skills to choose from and master, and you can spend weeks picking your way through the roster and trying out new heroes before you settle on the few that you really like. Discovering new techniques and strategies in Marvel Rivals is probably one of its best qualities, and the entertaining chaos of several powerful abilities all coalesce at the same time during team fights.

“[Players] want to feel like they’re playing as unique a character as possible,” Koo says. “And the team has pulled it off with every single character. I mean, the latest content with Human Torch and Storm, the flame and whirlwind combination, becomes a firestorm. That in itself is visually spectacular. But then I think the graphic team also needs to make sure that it doesn’t kill your entire graphic resources, especially if you’re in the eye of the storm.”

The quirks of Rivals’ bombastic abilities aren’t as charming in competitive, where mistakes matter more. It’s in competitive matches where getting blinded by a flurry of abilities, getting walled off as the map regens, or getting wailed on by Storm and Human Torch’s Flame Tornado begin to run thin. So, it’s really no surprise that players tend to lean towards the casual side more.

“[Casual and competitive] co-exist, but the majority of the players will not play competitive anyway, that’s for sure,” Koo says. “They just want to have fun with friends and go, ‘Hey, let’s queue and do a quick play.’ But competitive is also important, right? Because [players] also want an avenue to show off their mastery.”

While ensuring players are always having fun is clearly the top priority, NetEase is paying close attention to how the most-skilled corners of its community play Rivals. “We always look at it and balance it, if necessary, each season to see how fast players progress,” Koo says. “And in terms of matchmaking, we always pair you with people with the same level and the same rate as you to make it a comfortable experience.”

Koo also explains how the team is always open to exploring new modes, abilities, and heroes to keep things as fresh as possible. The only door that remains closed is something that I want more than anything else for Rivals’ competitive mode: “No role queue—that’s what makes this game so unique.”