Marvel Rivals shatters its own concurrent player record, reaching new heights following the launch of Season 1 and its exciting new content. Read on to discover what has players so enthralled!

Marvel Rivals Surpasses 600,000 Peak Players

Season 1: Eternal Night Falls Delivers

Marvel Rivals continues its triumphant run! The popular free-to-play team-based shooter has broken its own concurrent player record with the arrival of Season 1: Eternal Night Falls. Launched on January 10th, the season introduced a wave of fresh content, including new characters, a captivating new map, significant game improvements and optimizations, a challenging new ranked tier, and a rewarding new Battle Pass. The weekend saw players worldwide flocking to the servers, resulting in a staggering 644,269 concurrent players on January 11th. This impressive peak surpasses the game's previous record of 480,990 players set during its launch week.

Eternal Night Falls plunges players into a world dominated by Dracula and Doctor Doom, who have plunged the city into an eternal night, unleashing vampiric creatures to build Dracula's Empire of Eternal Night. Facing this formidable threat, heroes gain powerful new allies—the Fantastic Four! With such an exciting season unfolding, the immediate surge in player engagement comes as no surprise.

For detailed patch notes, including specific character skill adjustments, visit the official Marvel Rivals website or the Marvel Rivals Steam community hub.

Update Impacts on Mods

While the update brought a wealth of new content, it also resulted in the removal of some fan-made additions—namely, mods. The update introduced asset hash checking, a system that verifies the integrity of game files. This measure effectively detects inconsistencies, targeting cheats, hacks, and unfortunately, custom modifications. Accounts using unauthorized content may receive warnings or bans. While beneficial for combating cheaters, this change has impacted players who enjoyed using custom skins and other modifications.

Community reaction has been mixed. Some mourn the loss of custom content, such as Luna Snow's Hatsune Miku skin and Venom's modified abilities. Others see this as a necessary step for a free-to-play game reliant on cosmetic sales and in-app purchases, believing it crucial for maintaining fair gameplay and combating cheating.