Marvel Rivals as esports: First steps and what comes next

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Nearly four months after its release, the initial hype around Marvel Rivals has died down a bit, but the game itself remains highly relevant. Players are still actively engaged, and viewership on streaming platforms has stayed consistent. On top of that, a competitive scene of NetEase’s new title is starting to emerge: several globally recognized esports organizations have joined in, and the developers are regularly hosting regional tournaments. 

So, where does Marvel Rivals stand now in the esports landscape? And does it have the potential to become a true competitor to games like Overwatch? Let’s dive in.

Marvel Rivals as a game and livestreaming category

Marvel Rivals made a fast and confident entrance into the gaming market, carving out a solid spot despite fierce competition. There were reasons for concern for sure: just a couple of months before its release, another hero shooter, Concord, had crashed and burned. Yet, NetEase’s title not only avoided the same fate but also earned praise from both critics and casual players alike.

The game was launched in December 2024 across all major platforms, including PC and key consoles like Xbox and PlayStation. According to analysts at Newzoo, the game debuted as one of the top three most-played titles across several major markets, including the U.S., during its launch month. It trailed only industry powerhouses like Call of Duty and Fortnite, both of which have dominated the gaming landscape for years.

By the end of February, not much had changed. While the game had slipped from third to seventh place among the most-played titles, this remained an outstanding achievement, especially given how quickly public interest in some games tends to fade. Marvel Rivals remains a steady presence in the top rankings on Steam, with daily concurrent player peaks consistently exceeding 150,000.

The scenario in the game's livestreaming adventures is similar: while the initial hype has settled down, the game hasn’t lost much of its relevance. According to data from Streams Charts, Marvel Rivals is still a top-10 title in both streamer activity and viewer engagement. In terms of content creators, it actually outperforms games like Counter-Strike and Call of Duty: Warzone. 

Marvel Rivals continues to be one of the top Twitch games, ranking highly for both streamers and viewers

However, when it comes to viewer numbers, Marvel Rivals is still trailing behind. It’s outperformed not only by the previously mentioned titles but also by other games where a large portion of the viewership comes from esports. Although Marvel Rivals has already launched its own tournament series and attracted some notable teams, it’s not yet ready to compete with its rivals in the esports scene. So, what’s the current state of the game’s competitive side?

Marvel Rivals as esports

Much has already been said about the game’s potential as an esports title and the challenges it might face (mainly concerning the viewer experience, a criticism that Overwatch also faced in its early days). Instead of delving too much into that, let’s focus on what the current situation is and what we can expect moving forward.

Arguably the most important aspect is that NetEase began gradually laying the esports groundwork for Marvel Rivals shortly after the game’s release. Just over a week after launch, the publisher hosted a trial series of open regional tournaments, called Marvel Rivals Championship Season 0, offering prize pools of $14,500 each; modest, but still substantial.

At the same time, the developers are hosting other smaller-scale events (such as War of the Realms), but third-party events remain few and are generally run by smaller industry players, which is understandable, considering the game’s esports future is still unclear.

Nonetheless, despite the uncertainty surrounding Marvel Rivals’ esports scene, organizations are already beginning to invest. Teams like European giants OG and Fnatic, the Armenia/Russia-based Virtus.pro, Saudi Arabia’s Twisted Minds, and Chinese heavyweights such as EHOME and LGD Gaming are already involved. The most active investments are coming from U.S. and other NA teams, including 100 Thieves, Envy, FlyQuest, Sentinels, and the Shroud-X roster, formed specifically for Marvel Rivals by the legendary streamer Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek.

  Most popular Marvel Rivals esports events as of March 20, 2025  

At the moment, the top players from North America are competing in the Marvel Rivals Invitational: North America #2, and by the end of this tournament, it’s almost certain to become the most popular event in the game’s short history. After all, it’s in North America, where the competitive scene for Marvel Rivals has the highest demand, and with co-casting from industry legends like Shroud, you can definitely expect a solid viewership.

Meanwhile, the game’s top events that don’t feature well-known content creators (such as show matches like Twitch Rivals) haven’t even reached 30,000 concurrent viewers at their peak.

Currently, esports represents a very small portion of Marvel Rivals' total live content views, falling short of even 2% (even when accounting for competitive events with popular streamers). The game’s two main official esports channels on Twitch and YouTube haven’t surpassed 12,000-23,000 concurrent viewers at their peak. Nevertheless, there’s clear potential for the scene to grow further.

What’s next for Marvel Rivals esports?

Here's what makes us think that Marvel Rivals' esports scene has the potential to progress instead of staying stagnant:

• The game has navigated through its initial hype phase and appears to have securely and sustainably captured its core audience, which is arguably the key factor for esports development.

• Among all regions, North American tournaments are currently drawing the largest audience. While the gap in numbers compared to other regions isn’t huge, it’s still noticeable, which is a positive indicator for potential brands and sponsors. After all, North America represents one of the most lucrative markets globally.

• And, most importantly, it's the assurances from NetEase themselves, who have committed to investing in this aspect of the game for over a decade.

So far, the game has everything it needs to become at least a stable niche esports title (and, with the right approach, even a global one). Perhaps the only thing it's missing is the ability to convert its large live-streaming audience into an esports audience.

Take other popular team-based esports shooters as an example: from December 2024 to early March 2025, Marvel Rivals significantly outpaced games like Rainbow Six and Overwatch 2 in terms of overall live-streaming audience. However, it falls short in esports viewership share and total Hours Watched (HW) compared to these titles.

As we'll inevitably see with the Marvel Rivals Invitational: North America #2, co-casting tournaments can and should play a significant role in the overall audience metrics of the game, especially in titles like Marvel Rivals, which can be difficult to watch. In these games, the focus should ideally be on the POV of specific players (to make the action more engaging), and this is exactly what co-streamers can provide.

Currently, the game is extremely popular among top livestreaming content creators like Timothy “TimTheTatman” Betar, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, Brandon "aceu" Winn, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, and many more. If even a few of these stars participate in co-casting tournaments, it will provide a massive boost to the scene's audience, and this is something that should definitely be capitalized on. Valorant, where co-streaming plays just as important a role (if not more so than official broadcasts), is a prime example.

With its growing audience and the solid foundation being laid by key players in the industry, the future of Marvel Rivals in esports looks promising. As NetEase continues to build and refine the game’s competitive scene, the right moves could turn this title into a lasting staple of esports, ushering in a new wave of gaming excitement that benefits players, creators, and viewers alike.