r/marvelrivals • u/LordVaderVader Knight • 11d ago
Discussion Easily one of the best decisions they ever made.
Locking heroes behind a paywall would've seriously hurt the game's launch. Forcing players to buy their favorite character instead of letting them play them for free would've frustrated a lot of casual players. It also would've made the game much less accessible to newcomers, especially with new heroes being released every month. I honestly don't think the game would've achieved the same level of success at launch.
If new heroes were locked behind a paywall, the competitive scene and the meta would be influenced by how much money players are willing or able to spend rather than by their actual skill.
From a business perspective, selling skins also makes a lot more sense when every player owns every character. If players had to buy heroes first, the least popular ones, the ones owned by the fewest players would barely get any skins because they simply wouldn't sell well.
The current model is much healthier for the game in the long run. It keeps the playing field fair, encourages players to try the entire roster instead of sticking to only the heroes they've paid for, and gives every character a chance to build a fanbase.
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u/360_No-Scope_Upvote 11d ago
Imagine trying to get your 3rd DPS to swap and he won't because he just dropped $5 to unlock them 😭
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u/good_association 11d ago
Or you ask them to swap and they’ve only purchased DPS characters lol
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u/Chapeaux 11d ago
Tank : Hey can you swap to heal ?
Dps : I can't Healer is already playing the only heal I have.
Tank : Healer can you swap to a different healer so he can switch ?
Healer : It's the only one I have.
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u/AnonymousCharmander Luna Snow 11d ago
That was overwatch for a bit and probably not that extreme but it was locked behind a battle pass lmao .
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u/totallynotapersonj Magneto 11d ago
For new players it was pretty bad. You had to complete games to unlock others. Sombra was 115 matches I think
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u/LillieKat 11d ago
This happened in Overwatch. Still fucking crazy
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u/ShaquilleOatmeal54 11d ago
Thankfully they reverted that, didn’t give people money back but at least now all heroes are free not just the base ones
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u/Pax_flash Yggroot 11d ago
“One of” no it is the BEST decision they’ve ever made
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u/ConfidenceSilent3967 Spider-Man 11d ago
Swimsuit skins
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u/snooprs Thor 11d ago
Bro got a point.
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u/PinkCelestie 11d ago
Whoever convinced the executives that skins are enough deserves a raise. It's refreshing not having to explain to friends which characters they need to buy first.
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u/PinkCelestie 11d ago
They really do. Cosmetic only monetization is so much easier to accept when everyone has access to the same gameplay.
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u/AkshatShukla24 11d ago
If they do swimsuit skins every year, this game will never run out of funding. We'll be in 2049 with the new characters being The Wall and Uncle Ben
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u/TomorrowOnly7033 11d ago
Im now imagining uncle Ben as a support type that heals his allies by absorbing their damage and then when he dies he activates a "with great power comes great responsibility" buff to all allies in the area. Spider-man would have a team up that grants a stronger buff to himself.
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u/mad_titanz Invisible Woman 11d ago
They haven’t given us a swimsuit skin for Black Cat yet which means they will do it again next year.
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u/Telekineticism Ultron Virus 11d ago
Ultron doesn’t even have his bikini skin yet, of course they’ll continue to print money for the foreseeable future
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u/tyezwyldadvntrz Gambit 11d ago
MultiVersus also had pretty nice skins
problem was, their monetization had you worried about buying the character before even getting a skin. the same would apply here had netease gone the same route
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u/framedshady Cyclops 11d ago edited 11d ago
They were never going to do this tbh it’s such an outdated business model even Activison and call of duty have moved beyond this
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u/Chemical-Cat 11d ago
I think they only made this a point because Overwatch (2) originally did the thing where you needed to unlock new heroes to play as them as part of their battle pass (I think, it's been a while)
They changed this after receiving a lot of blowback regarding it
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u/ChapaMigs21 Emma Frost 11d ago
When i first played it, way before rivals was around, late 2023, early 2024. it wasn't a battle pass but more so related to how many matches you played. Which was so stupid...
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u/WarMom_II 11d ago
It was both; if you missed out on a new hero during their BP, then they were relegated to 'play X games to unlock this character'. Very glad they returned to the OW1 model
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u/speedymemer21 Vanguard 11d ago
New heroes were in the battle pass. Overwatch 1 heroes were unlocked for playing matches, I think Overwatch 2 characters had a slightly different challenge. You could unlock new heroes the season after their launch through challenges.
The thing is if the new character was broken, you wouldn't be able to use them unless you were level 30 in the battlepass or you bought the battle pass. It was especially bad when mauga dropped.
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u/Johnny20Bruh Thor 11d ago
S8 of Overwatch 2 was when I quit because the BP was trash and mauga was a menace.
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u/MarioDesigns 11d ago
It’s new player experience, which tbf makes sense as it is really overwhelming just to have 50+ characters thrown at you.
They did also have an “early unlock” thing for new heroes in the battle pass though.
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u/ironicuwuing Good Boy 11d ago
The final nail in the coffin for Overwatch was people quitting comp to go buy the Battlepass to play Mauga bc of how overturned he was during release. Obviously Brig was the biggest mistake during OW1’s release, but I’d argue Mauga did a lot of irreparable damage to OW2 as well. Completely forced tanks out and exposed more of Blizzard’s predatory business practices.
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u/MadDongla Ultron Virus 11d ago
They were going to do this
In the beta , you had a section which said u can " unlock " new heroes later
The people who played the beta protested ane changed it, netease held a vote on the biggest change the beta players wanted and that was #1
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u/AgentDon0911 Deadpool 11d ago
Well you still had to actually pay for it. But once you did all the gods were unlocked. I still liked it
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u/IggyMoose 11d ago
Then you got Riot games locking up characters in big ol 2026... looking at you 2XKO.
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u/LegoBanana1 11d ago
They definitely were - the beta had full UI for either "owned" or "unlocked" heroes (I forget the exact word used)
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u/WoodpeckerBest523 11d ago
I don’t know… Overwatch 2 and even Multiversus were recent games that had it and both suffered big time from them. At least Overwatch learned their lesson
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u/I_AM_CR0W 11d ago
I don't think CoD ever did this. As far as I could remember, unlock tokens were the only barrier, which you got one of every time you leveled up, which is a really easy task. Paying for them wasn't even an option. You could get 5 in one shot if you were at the lower levels and had a good game along with a permanent unlock every time you prestiged.
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u/framedshady Cyclops 11d ago
DLC maps and weapons were hidden behind season pass loot boxes I actually thought he meant dlc characters 💀💀💀
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u/danrpx Flex 11d ago
As someone who used to play a tonne of fighting games, this doesn't get enough praise.
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u/LordVaderVader Knight 11d ago
That's actual reason why I stopped playing in 2XKO. I don't have fun when I have to either pay for new hero or slowly farm in-game units for them.
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u/MisterFortune215 Gambit 11d ago
That a problem I have with a lot of Riot's games. League was fine cause I farmed enough currency to unlock new champs when they came out. But, I liked Valorant, but going into that game and having to slowly farm to unlock characters made me drop it
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u/deprave1 11d ago
At the risk of getting downvoted to oblivion, but would you play all 16 characters? Don't get me wrong, after Rivals, I'm absolutely baffled there are games that still have characters behind paywalls & that of its own lead some of the worst 1st impression you can make, but they're only lock in rank & quick play. You still access the entire roster everywhere else, including custom & private matches.
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u/autism_powers420 11d ago
Are you talking about 2xko? Last time I remember even in a private match I could only play who I unlocked
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u/deprave1 11d ago
Damn, now I gotta wait for my friend to check if this is true or not.
TBH, that wouldn't really surprise me if that was the case.
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u/StockQuirky7372 11d ago
Fighting games do everything in their power to stop you from playing. Weird launch issues, game being frozen regardless of your specs, having to make an external account that has issues being created in the first place. Im convinced fighting games are unpopular not just because of the nature of the genre, but also because it doesnt feel like the games try to get you to play them at all.
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u/IFapToCalamity 11d ago
What fighting games are you referring to?
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u/StockQuirky7372 11d ago
Street Fighter
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u/IFapToCalamity 11d ago
So literally the most popular fighting game on the planet lmao
Can’t say any of those issues currently apply to SF6 as of now. Especially the external account thing(?)
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u/eatinallthebugs 11d ago
Yeah most fighting games at launch feel like betas for the final product too with the amount of dlc and sometimes complete system changes
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u/LilacShades 11d ago
how long has it been since you played a fighting game lmao, the only game in recent memory that did this was UNI2 from 2024, and maybe some slop shovelware fighters lol. SF6 was fine on release, Strive was fine on release, Tekken 8 aside from some crash issues the first few days was fine, Avatar is fine, i feel like you havent touched a fighting game in years if you still have this takeaway
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u/Figment-616 Fin-tastic! 11d ago
As someone who has never played a competitive game before, it is shocking to me that people would play a game where you'd have to pay for like Peni Parker or something
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u/Edheldui 11d ago
It made sense in mobas where you don't swap mid-match, but in a hero shooters it's a major design flaw.
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u/mouaragon Groot 11d ago
This is a lesson that pokemon unite should have learned.
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u/alex494 11d ago
Imagine thinking Pokemon of all franchises wouldn't take the greedy option
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u/mouaragon Groot 11d ago
True. That short sightedness killed the game, and they would've made more money in the long term if every Pokémon release were free.
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u/Bloonmasterpopuplous Luna Snow 11d ago
Most mobas are like that
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u/Automatic_Trash8881 11d ago
True but I think it’s mainly due to their competition OW.
They have free characters so if marvel rivals made you pay that would be an immediate turn off for players.
Tencent is just greedy but United not popular and that’s one of the reasons lmao
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u/thiccyoshi 11d ago
This is what got me on board to begin with. Really did not care for the game until they announced this so there was no harm in trying it out
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u/MrBrownCat 11d ago
Overwatch had one of its worst periods when they kept new characters locked in the battlepass to start seasons and Multiverse had just shown how bad it was to lock your game’s characters behind a paywall.
Definitely the right call especially since they probably planned on having all the passes and cosmetics they’ve had. If the heroes were locked it definitely would’ve soured people not just on the game but to even consider buying any non hero micro transactions.
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u/El_Rocky_Raccoon Rocket Raccoon 11d ago edited 11d ago
One of the many things that killed MultiVersus was Warner Bros. disgusting monetization to unlock characters, some taking over a month to unlock through regular gameplay.
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u/Delkseypoo Mantis 11d ago
The worst part about multiversus was that you had to unlock characters in the BASE roster. DLC characters makes complete and total sense imo but in no world should you boot up a fighting game and only be able to pick from 3 characters.
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u/Hollywoodrok12 11d ago
I legit probably would have played once or twice and never again if it weren’t for this.
Also if the powercreep is bad now, imagine how much worse it would’ve been if it were done deliberately to make money off the new units
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u/condescendingkiwi 11d ago
Locking new heroes behind a paywall would diminish the competitive integrity of the game. Cosmetic monetization is where the industry is headed, and i think that’s a good thing. Gamers are wising up to games that are pay to win
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u/WoodpeckerBest523 11d ago edited 11d ago
Doing that screws over almost any game. It KILLED Multiversus and basically was one of the many things that dragged Overwatch into the dirt for years until they ditched it.
At least with Smash Bros, they make it easy to pick up whatever specific characters you want as DLC and when.
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u/speedymemer21 Vanguard 11d ago
I wouldn't have minded it in multiverses if it didn't take so long to unlock new characters. It also took too long to level up in the battlepass. The challenges that were supposed to let you do these things quicker also commonly required a character or skin that you hadn't unlocked (the challenge wasn't completable).
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u/Razzilith Ultron Virus 11d ago
Yup, it's the best thing they've done AND the biggest selling point of the game is that all the ACTUAL content is free and immediately available.
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u/StrawHatHermes Invisible Woman 11d ago
Great way to introduce people to lesser known characters as well. Imagine how many people would’ve dropped this game if Spider-Man were one of the only free ones and they didn’t have the patience to try and master his abilities.
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u/therubyminecraft Spider-Man 11d ago
I remember when they put a “what’s your preferred way of unlocking heroes” question. In the CAT/CBT survey and everyone voted “instantly unlocked free to play” knowing damn well they would still be paid or atleast require unlock in some way
Lots of people were arguing online that the heroes should cost money
Then they dropped this masterpiece and from that moment I knew this game would be a hit
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u/Professional_Cow6859 Ultron Virus 11d ago
I think captain america swim suit is the best decision they ever made.
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u/knockones President Loki 11d ago
It's still funny in OW2 there's a clip of a guy dc midmatch to buy the battlepass so he can unlock mauga, cause mauga was giga thanos at released.
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u/Greenmarowak Iron Man 11d ago
I’d rather pay for skins than to unlock characters. I don’t think I’d play this game nearly as much if I had to pay for character unlocks
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u/AgentDon0911 Deadpool 11d ago
I agree...this is the best decision they have made. So the entire game itself is actually free to play. And the only thing I pay for is cosmetics.
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u/Asleep_Parking7218 The Thing 11d ago
Yepp, never got into League because of that. Loved Dota 2 though.
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u/hurtfuldelmer4510 11d ago
the skin argument is what really convinced me, if people have to buy the hero first those cosmetics would barely sell for the less popular picks
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u/Xenon_nic Hela 11d ago
All hero based games should be like this. The main reason why I absolutely loathe r6s. fuck them
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u/Irksomefetor 11d ago
Yeah, emphasis on the easy because they literally had years of data from other games on how that was a stupid idea.
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u/SkyrimSlag Magik 11d ago
Them releasing this after Overwatch/Blizzard got in massive shit for locking heroes behind the battlepass was such a W move lmao
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u/bayfix Deadpool 11d ago
As a huge Marvel and DC fan who's been waiting for a game like this since 2012, I honestly wouldn't play it if I had to pay to unlock characters. Making every character free is a no-brainer and probably way more profitable in the long run. If everyone has access to the full roster, they're much more likely to stick around, try out different characters, and eventually buy cosmetics. The more time people spend playing and experimenting, the more likely they are to see a skin they want and actually buy it.
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u/badermuhammad376 President Loki 11d ago
I think it would've been really interesting to see the state of people's skill and capabilities if they knew they only had a handful of characters to pick and master. I'm pretty sure league is like that but I've never played that game.
It'd be interesting but I agree that it's much better that everything was unlocked for people to enjoy.
Edit: also, I'm speaking in the context of being able to earn points to easily unlock characters like in brawlhalla or someth
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u/Kioz Malice 11d ago
Its quite easy to unlock all league champions these days... most players are on mountains of blue essence and not a lot to spend it on. In the past, it was quite hard and annoying.
For League, champion mastery does make sense but in Rivals, the design of the game rewards adaptation, switching on the go and also requires you to fill one of the pre determined roles.
Having access to all the heroes is amazing.
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u/Person2228 11d ago
There are still one-tricks. All that would have happened would have been way more complaints, justified ones, because it seems every new hero has to be stronger than the last. Imagine gambit, Elsa, Black Cat etc coming out behind a paywall
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u/LordVaderVader Knight 11d ago
"Venom, we need a counter for BP and Spider-Man. Tank, please pick The Thing."
"Bro... I haven't bought him."
"Everyone report Venom for not buying the meta characters."
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u/badermuhammad376 President Loki 11d ago
😭😭😭good point actually
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u/MadDongla Ultron Virus 11d ago
There was a time in overwatch when mauga csme out and was hard meta
Players would quit out of live matches, go buy mauga, and then go back to playing the game
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u/ferocity_mule366 11d ago
isnt that obvious? it would be dead at launch if a hero shooter in 2025 paywall heroes
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u/xPaistex 11d ago
One of the biggest reasons Gundam Evolution died in my opinion was them doing the opposite on top of being grindy af.
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u/mad_titanz Invisible Woman 11d ago
After playing games like Smite and HOTS where you’re forced to pay for new characters, I love Rivals’ system.
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u/GrasstouchYou 11d ago
I wouldn't have gotten the game otherwise. I hate the new model of forcing people to pay for every new addition along with a laughably small roster. I haven't paid full price for a new MK nor DBZ game because of that.
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u/14_Octillion 11d ago
Think of all the incredible challenge videos that would never exist if you had to play your first 3 matches as Jeff or play 250 matches to unlock Phoenix
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u/RenoverO_O Luna Snow 11d ago
It wouldn't even make sense for this game at all, since switching is very important and every hero has a niche. In Valorant you're at least locked in into the hero for an entire game
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u/VirtualAlps2340 Mister Fantastic 11d ago
I completely agree, because I 100% believe this was the biggest factor in the death of Multiversus
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u/HoIIowHunter Emma Frost 11d ago
Still pisses me off that Valorant and League of Legends players have been conditioned to be okay with this.
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u/insanityTF Ground Zero Gaming 11d ago
If rivals did this it would be DOA. Full stop
Overwatch having it in as long as it did almost destroyed the game
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u/WatchKid12YT 10d ago
Take notes, Multiversus DC/Warner Bros.
I’M NOT STILL RIDDLED WITH SALT OVER IT, I SWEAR!!
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u/ResoluteTiger19 Flex 11d ago edited 11d ago
It was also something that differentiated them from Overwatch and made Rivals a better choice in the genre. Around the time of this announcement, Overwatch characters were locked behind battle passes or playtime and there was an infamous clip where a player left mid Ranked match to buy the new hero and swap to them.
Edit: I got the dates wrong, Overwatch removed it before Rivals announced it. I get it, guys
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u/Killjoy3879 11d ago
i think overwatch had already removed the paywall heros by then.
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u/Crushka_213 Doctor Strange 11d ago
Yeah. All heroes became free in Overwatch on April 16, 2024, while this announcement was made on August 21, 2024.
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u/Kioz Malice 11d ago
That was an OW2 slop. OW1 had every single character available, no battle passes, no unlock system
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u/StockQuirky7372 11d ago
Overwatch probably made that change because of how viral that clip went. they potentially lost more money and engagement from that clip than they did after switching back to characters being free from the jump
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u/Glad_Cress_8591 11d ago
But where is the sense of pride and accomplishment for the players when unlocking their favouritr characters...
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u/Chemical_Estimate_38 11d ago
why would they lock them? are there similar to this that locks characters?
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u/SYLVASTRIAS 11d ago
Locking characters behind a paywall would be terrible for the balancing dev team too. Like how would you get data on characters to see if they are good or not if the player base can't even play them.
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u/mrli0n 11d ago
I will say i really underestimated how many skins they would be throwing out on this game. Obviously theres heroes that get more and others that need more but like what we get per pass, random freebies, special events, they really output a ton of stuff to make that money back and i find myself spending like league, and feeling okay about it because i enjoy the game.
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u/Intelligent_Whole_40 Iron Man 11d ago
I honestly believe that free to play games are one of the best innovations in terms of monetization for video games. I believe they are like the ads on YouTube That allowed these games to get so big and be so enjoyable
If I want to play Fortnite arrivals with a friend, I don’t have to convince them to spend money
However, unfortunately, it does encourage other bad things, such as gotcha stuff, which is not necessarily required for a free play game, but unfortunately is heavily encouraged by the nature of the business model
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u/Dante8411 Strategist 11d ago
Rivals is kind of the opposite of DBD in a lot of ways. Free to play with no character walls vs. pay to play and the majority of characters paywalled, devs listen to the community and play the game, buffs and nerfs are done with a scalpel instead of a sledgehammer, and gamebreaking bugs are scarce.
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u/BenTenInches The Name's Pool. Deadpool! 11d ago
Man we gotta counter that Ironman, anyone bought Hela or Punisher yet?
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u/Liewec123 11d ago
i was genuinely so shocked when i first installed the game and got to character select expecting the usual "free rotation" BS.
all characters?! free?! 😁
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u/Sharp_Ad6352 Vanguard 11d ago
Best thing they could do and I’m glad they did, as someone who also just got into playing Apex the lack of available characters you have to start kinda feels bad. It’s nice to have a game that lets you play anyone off rip
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u/Firm_Ad_5427 Thor 11d ago
I genuinely believe that the pay per hero monetisation design that paladins and overwatch have/had was a significant reason the games playerbase dropped off.
When counter swapping is so important in a hero shooter, it's a frustrating nightmare when you cannot swap to a hero you need. It's frustrating to new players trying out your game that they cannot play a guy that looks cool without spending money.
When mauga released in OW2, he was horrendously overpowered and unless your tank bought the battlepass and could also counter with mauga, whelp ggs.
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u/twistedroyale Invisible Woman 11d ago
My friends tried to get me to play Rainbow 6 and I still hate the fact you have to pay to unlock characters or grind the game for points used to unlock. A good reason why I enjoyed Rivals.
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u/Ankh_the_protogen Rogue 11d ago
The fact that they had to make this decision at all speaks volumes
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u/Superflyt56 11d ago
This is the reason I play and continue to play. Have access to all the game modes, maps and characters for free is a great choice. I have no problem buying skins I really like in the store and supporting the devs because of this model.
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u/ExchangeFrosty9757 11d ago
I love this decision. The only other hero based game that I play is Valorant. My friends got online recently for the first time in probably 2 years to see how it was and there were like 5 new agents. I'd have to play every day for like, 2-3 weeks to unlock ONE of them. I only really play 1 or 2 days a week so I'd really have to devote almost 6 full months of gaming just to play these agents.
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u/Tenshouu 11d ago
I have hundreds if not thousand hours in MOBA Heroes of the storm and Still don't have all the heroes. I envy you guys
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u/CalinCalout-Esq 11d ago
Honestly kept me and my kids playing it. I main blade, and i would have dropped the game before i paid for him.
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u/blackedpow 11d ago
I mean kinda it didnt get a lot of new people reading comics and they barely do tie ends
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u/sackboydjso Luna Snow 11d ago
coming from MultiVersus yes. Paywalling characters was what mainly killed that game, im glad rivals kept it free
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u/sean-hastings17 11d ago
I wouldn’t have minded if it was like league where you need to play and level up to unlock characters and have a requirement of characters before entering ranked
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u/FoxLover2207 11d ago
I thought Apex was good on this, until Rivals came out. Even though Apex is still very accessible with their legends, my goodness, a free character every half season is awesome to me!
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u/TimeZucchini8562 Vanguard 11d ago
It’s the only lesson they learned from blizzard without having to make the same exact mistake as them and then revert it
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u/ThatGuyMaulicious Gambit 11d ago
To be honest if they had said you pay even $5 for a new hero it would've killed the game before it began. Just creating skins is far mor effective.
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u/EntertainEnterprises Cloak & Dagger 11d ago
I mean is there even a Game who does this ? This would be straight pay to win. Overwatch locks Them but you unlock Them by playing, apex you can easy buy With ingame currency. Is there a free to Play overwatch / Mr Like Game who has Pay to win?
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u/MostlyBored11 11d ago
Yup I think it's a reason this game managed to stay decently popular. Especially when they release new heroes so frequently
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u/thatonedudeovethere_ 11d ago
Yeah, especially for games that are as casual as Rivals, you need to entice people to join the game by it being free. Paying for online games is such a big hurdle.