Marvel Rivals Official Release Date and Free Heroes
Marvel Rivals had its closed beta test not too long ago and was mostly well received. One of the things it did an amazing job at is capturing the identity and experience of playing as whatever Marvel character you picked. Each testable hero was designed in a way that did a great job at taking it's comic book/movie powers, weapons, personality, etc. and combining it into an interesting and competent video game move set.
With some recent announcements, we now know more about it's release date, monetization structure, and what platforms it will be available on.
Related Article: Ranked Play in Marvel Rivals Explained
All Heroes For Free
With how well the game does at capturing the identity of each hero, it would be a shame if players had to shell out real money just to play as the Marvel characters they love. It would also kill a ton of the excitement that comes from each announcement of new heroes/villains being added post-launch.
In a world of live service games milking players for every single possible penny, it was safe to say most people likely assumed Marvel Rivals would go the League of Legends route of forcing you to grind an unreasonable extent for an arbitrary currency to unlock characters for free in such a ridiculous and tedious way that many fans would just say, "Forget this, I'm paying the $10 to unlock it now," or the SMITE route of doing what League of Legends does, but also allowing players to buy an Ultimate Heroes Pass, if you will, for around $40 that comes with all characters.
However, Marvel Rivals has decided to take the Dota 2 approach and make all heroes free forever. Right away from the immediate launch and beyond, all heroes in Marvel Rivals will be playable for free. This is massive news that considerably raises the appeal of the game.
Even it's biggest source of competition and direct inspiration, Overwatch, now forces you to grind a lot for new heroes or pay real money. This is a great thing for the longevity of Marvel Rivals and helps insure that every hero announcement is a big deal that can be celebrated as exciting.
When does Marvel Rivals Release Come Out?
Marvel Rivals is officially set to release on December 6, 2024. The release will come with Captain America and the Winter Soldier/Bucky added to the roster of characters.
Some players are concerned that the game's monetization choice of free heroes will result in expensive microtransactions for skins, but that will just have to remain to be seen. The prices of the skins in the closed beta test (which let you earn the premium currency just for playing since it was just a beta test), were priced around $12 (1200 currency) for the bad ones and $20 (2000 currency) for the premium ones, but that's all subject to change. Nobody knows for certain yet.
What Platforms Can You Play Marvel Rivals On?
Marvel Rivals will be available to play on PC (both Steam and the Epic Games store), PS5, and Xbox Series S/X. This all makes sense and is the standard for most titles outside of sports games and 2D platformers. The previous generation of consoles is too old at this point for it to be worth it, especially with cross play and performance in mind, for developers to make their games work on Xbox One consoles or PS4 consoles.
Marvel Rivals will NOT be playable on Nintendo Switch. This also makes sense since most Switch ports run terribly on account of the Switch being about as powerful as a Samsung smart toaster.
BEN FITZSIMMONS