Marvel Rivals hits a Fantastic 444,000 peak player count on Steam hours after launch despite so-so reviews

A good initial performance, especially given the release time. When the Europeans get off work, we'll likely see better.

Marvel Rivals is out at last, and it looks as though the game is popping off already, hitting a fantastic 444,000 peak concurrent player count on Steam a few hours after its release last night. This number will likely increase too, as we approach the weekend and word of mouth does its work.

The game has been highly anticipated running up to its release, with various pre-launch betas resulting in positive sentiments cementing around the game. However, impressions have not all been positive! Various reviews have pointed to the game as Overwatch clone, with its own unique qualities not quite shining through.

But given the current state of team-based arcadey shooters, maybe that's not a problem. Overwatch 2 isn't exactly in the hottest spot right now, and given the months of bad PR for Overwatch 2 dropped on top of all the Overwatch 1 controversies , there's a sizable community of folks who love the genre, but are ready for something new. As well as that, the market around this specific sub-genre of shooter has absolutely got a spot for another big hit. Competitors to Overwatch weren't doing especially hot until Marvel Rivals came out, providing a great opportunity for Netease.

Funnily enough, if Marvel Rivals does manage to eat some of Blizzard's lunch, we may see a similar turnaround with Overwatch that World of Warcraft had years back. That game, which now is in a very good spot, wasn't very popular during the Shadowlands expansion. Then, boom! Final Fantasy 14 had a big expansion and drew a lot of players away from WoW. This competition resulted in a clawing back of community goodwill from the WoW team, and a healthier MMO space altoghether. If this happens again here, who knows? Maybe Overwatch and the genre as a whole will be better for it.

If you're playing Marvel Rivals right now, let us know what you think of it! What do you like about it, and who are you maining?