Marvel Rivals Team Prioritizes Game Development Over Dataminer Speculation

Marvel Rivals dataminers suspect developers are embedding misleading character lists in the game's code. However, NetEase and Marvel emphasize their focus is on building the game, not engaging in speculation.

Last month, dataminers uncovered names of potential future heroes in Marvel Rivals' code, with some, like the Fantastic Four, soon confirmed as authentic. As the list of datamined characters expanded, rumors emerged that developers might be planting fake names to throw off dataminers.

Debate persists within the community about which, if any, of these datamined characters are genuinely under consideration for the game.

We recently spoke with Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo to clarify whether they’re orchestrating a clever ruse. While they dismissed the idea of intentional misdirection, they advised caution regarding names found in the code. Wu explained:

"We strongly discourage tampering with game files," he said. "Each character’s design undergoes an extensive 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 rough draft notebook out, and a dataminer picking it up without context."

When pressed directly on whether they were trolling, Koo stated, "No. Our time is better spent developing the game itself."

In the same discussion, we explored how characters are selected for Marvel Rivals. Wu and Koo revealed that the team plans updates about a year ahead, aiming to introduce new characters every six weeks. NetEase begins by identifying character types and skillsets needed to enhance game balance and roster diversity. Rather than heavily adjusting existing characters, they prioritize adding new ones to keep gameplay dynamic, bolster weaker characters with new team abilities, or counter stronger ones.

NetEase compiles a list of potential characters and collaborates with Marvel Games on initial designs. They consider community enthusiasm and upcoming Marvel projects, such as major films or comics, to finalize selections. This process explains the variety of names in the code—NetEase is constantly exploring multiple ideas.

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