Marvel Rivals Team Denies Trolling Dataminers, Focuses on Game Development

Marvel Rivals dataminers suspect developers are planting fake character lists in the game's code. NetEase and Marvel, however, emphasize their priority is enhancing the game itself.

Last month, dataminers uncovered names of potential future heroes embedded in Marvel Rivals' code, with some, like the Fantastic Four, quickly confirmed as genuine. As the list of datamined characters expanded, a rumor spread within the community that some names might be decoys, intentionally placed by developers to mislead dataminers.

Uncertainty persists in the community about which, if any, of the datamined characters are seriously planned for inclusion.

In a recent interview, we directly asked Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo if they were orchestrating an elaborate prank. They clarified that no trolling is involved, though datamined names should be approached cautiously. Wu explained:

"We strongly advise against modifying game files," he said. "Each character’s design undergoes a complex process involving concepts, trials, prototypes, and development. Some information may remain in the code, reflecting ideas we’ve explored that may or may not feature in future plans. Their inclusion depends heavily on the gameplay experience our players expect."

Koo elaborated, "A ten-year plan would be ideal, but the team experiments with various play styles and heroes. It’s like someone leaving a notebook of rough drafts, and a dataminer opening it without context."

When pressed on whether they were intentionally misleading dataminers, Koo responded, "No. Our focus is on developing the game itself."

In the same discussion, we explored how characters are selected for Marvel Rivals. Wu and Koo shared that the team plans updates about a year ahead, aiming to introduce new characters every six weeks. NetEase begins by identifying the character types and skills needed to balance and diversify the roster, compiling a list of potential additions. Rather than heavily tweaking existing characters, their strategy focuses on introducing new heroes to keep gameplay fresh, address weaknesses with new team synergies, or counter overly strong characters.

NetEase collaborates with Marvel Games to develop initial designs, considering community excitement and upcoming Marvel projects, such as major films or comic arcs, to finalize character selections. This approach explains the variety of hero names in the code, reflecting the team’s ongoing brainstorming.

Marvel Rivals launched strongly, with each new character enhancing its appeal. The Human Torch and The Thing are slated to join the roster on February 21. We also discussed the potential for a Nintendo Switch 2 release with Wu and Koo, which you can read about here.