Marvel Rivals reviews have plummeted, but why are players falling out of love with the game?

Marvel Rivals, NetEase’s popular hero shooter, is seeing a dramatic fall in player base, prompting questions about the game’s long-term sustainability. Launched to considerable praise in December 2024, the game peaked at an amazing 644,269 concurrent players on Steam in January 2025, due to its vivid Marvel-themed roster and fast-paced action.

However, subsequent reports present a quite different image. According to SteamDB, the game’s player count has plummeted, with a 24-hour peak of only 129,865 in June – an 80% reduction from its previous high. The entire month of May 2025 was the lowest moment, with active players battling to cross 100,000, despite the release of Season 2.5 and additional content such as Ultron and a new map, Arrako.

NetEase’s monthly upgrades have failed to stem the tide, prompting fans and analysts to doubt the game’s long-term viability in a competitive genre dominated by titles like Overwatch 2. Furthermore, recent Steam reviews have turned to “mixed,” with only 64% positive feedback, a stark contrast to the game’s early accolades. But what’s making players fall out of love with the game?

Marvel Rivals Steam reviews fall to “Mixed” as players blame matchmaking issues

As of June 25, Marvel Rivals has dropped to a “mixed” rating on Steam, with only 64% of recent reviews positive, in stark contrast to its original reviews. The game initially received considerable acclaim for its diverse lineup and dynamic gameplay.

However, recent player feedback indicates increased frustration, with many blaming Engagement-Optimized Matchmaking (EOMM) and ongoing graphical difficulties. Players criticize EOMM for creating lopsided matches, claiming that it encourages interaction over fairness, resulting in painful experiences in which inexperienced players meet seasoned veterans.

A Steam reviewer wrote, “Obviously based on playtime, I enjoy playing this game and will continue to play it, but the EOMM system is absolutely killer when it comes to having a drive to actually play. This system is designed to keep players playing as much as possible, without necessarily concerning itself with keeping matchmaking balanced or giving you fair, skill-based matches. It does not reward consistency or skill alone, and manipulates your matches based on play habits and predicted emotions.”

Graphical difficulties exacerbate the situation, with gamers experiencing frequent crashes, stuttering, and poor PC optimization. These performance issues have been around, particularly since Season 2, with one review claiming, “Performance has been getting worse with every update, and it’s on the brink of being unplayable now. From being able to hit 180fps at launch to dipping below 60 with stuttering. An attempt to optimise the game needs to be made sooner rather than later, it can’t be ignored, devs need to realize this.”

NetEase acknowledged the frequent GPU crashes and issued a statement, “After intensive testing and collaboration with the NVIDIA team, we’re happy to share that updating your NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver to version 576.80 can significantly reduce the likelihood of GPU crashes. Feel free to update it if you encounter this issue. We recommend updating it if you experience this issue.”

As Marvel Rivals Season 3 is due to arrive in the next couple of weeks, players are hoping devs fix the issues that have been drawing its majority of the initial player base away from the game, and once again make them fall in love with the hero shooter they have left Overwatch behind for.