Hero shooters are a dime a dozen these days. Between the ever-present Team Fortress 2, revamped Overwatch 2, and impending Concord, we're spoilt for choice. It's hard to stand out amongst the crowd, as Concord has already proven, but NetEase's Marvel Rivals is already off to a flying start, and it's not even out yet.
While the Marvel Rivals release date is yet to be nailed down, that doesn't mean we can't at least give it a try. NetEase has just started the next playtest, and it's going really well for the multiplayer game.
The new Marvel Rivals playtest started on Tuesday July 23, and it's already peaked at a staggering 52,671 players. It quickly dropped down to around 12,500, but the numbers are once again on the rise. The last playtest maxed out at around 10,000, so this is a vast improvement.
With Overwatch 2 and Team Fortress 2 still the titans of the genre, the only real comparison point right now is PlayStation's Concord. After that game also had a free Steam beta recently, it peaked at a much less impressive 2,300 players. You should keep in mind that for Concord this was an entirely open beta, and while anyone could sign up for Marvel Rivals, that opportunity has now closed.
Don't worry though, if you missed out on closed beta access, we have a Marvel Rivals beta giveaway ongoing until Thursday July 25, and some Marvel Rivals Twitch drops are giving keys away too - but they're on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Marvel Rivals closed beta test is running until Monday August 5, but you can head on over to the Steam page to wishlist it right now.
While you wait for the full launch, we've already broken down all the Marvel Rivals characters so you know who to pick in the beta and beyond, alongside the Marvel Rivals system requirements to see how the game measures up to your rig.
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