Dataminers of Marvel Rivals have been buzzing with excitement and skepticism over lists of potential future characters they've found hidden within the game's code. However, both NetEase and Marvel have clarified that their focus is on developing the game rather than engaging in any trolling activities. Last month, the community was abuzz when dataminers uncovered names of potential heroes, some of which were quickly confirmed with the official announcement of the Fantastic Four. Yet, as more names surfaced, rumors spread that some might be decoys planted by the developers to mislead dataminers.

The Marvel Rivals community remains divided on the authenticity of these datamined characters. In a recent interview, Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo addressed these speculations. Wu emphasized the complexity of character design, stating, "So firstly we want to say that we don't recommend anybody to make adjustments to the files [of the game]. Also, you can see that for each character's design actually we come through a very complicated process and we make a lot of concepts, trials, prototypes, development, et cetera. So there could be some information left in the code, and it might mean that we have tried those directions and they may appear or may not appear in our future plans. And whether or not they will appear in our future pipeline is highly depending on what kind of gameplay experience our players would expect in our game."

Koo added a humorous analogy, likening the situation to someone leaving a notebook of ideas behind, which dataminers then interpret without context. When directly asked if they were trolling the community, Koo firmly denied it, saying, "No. We would rather spend our time developing the actual game."

During the same discussion, Wu and Koo shed light on the process of selecting new characters for Marvel Rivals. They explained that the team plans updates about a year in advance, aiming to introduce new characters every month and a half. The selection process involves assessing the current roster's balance and variety, creating a list of potential additions, and then collaborating with Marvel Games on initial designs. They also consider community feedback and upcoming Marvel projects, such as films or comic arcs, to finalize their choices. This approach explains the presence of numerous hero names in the game's code, as NetEase continuously explores various ideas.

Marvel Rivals has been a hit since its launch, and the addition of new characters like the Human Torch and The Thing, set to join on February 21, continues to enhance the game's appeal. Additionally, Wu and Koo discussed the potential for a Nintendo Switch 2 release, which you can read more about [ttpp].