The game is free-to-play with a current lineup of 37 characters from Marvel Comics, and features cross-play across all supported platforms.

[11][12] The game also features destructible environments, allowing players to alter the battlefield (overseen by Galacta) to their advantage.

[24] The game does not require players into a "role queue", which otherwise would require a specific blend of heroes on a team; creative director Guangyun Chen said this was "to offer a wider variety of team composition through team-up skills and their own designs", as well as to allow players to use team-up abilities without restrictions.

[29] Each season will have a purchasable battle pass which includes cosmetic items (such as character skins, emotes, sprays and player banners) that the player can then buy by using Units, the in-game currency earned from playing matches and completing daily, weekly, and seasonal challenges.

For example, the first Winter Celebration event ran from December 2024 to January 2025, and featured a 4v4 game mode similar to Splatoon where all the players play as Jeff the Land Shark to use that character's spit attack to cover the most area on a map.

[39] NetEase Games' development team for Marvel Rivals, based in Guangzhou, is led by lead producer Weicong Wu and creative director Guangyun Chen.

Included rewards were an exclusive alpha tester title and a playable skin for the character Scarlet Witch, both earned through the test's dedicated battle pass.

[44] NetEase received backlash during the alpha playtest when streamer Brandon Larned called out the company on social media for including a non-disparagement clause in the contract given to content creators who had access to the alpha test, barring reviews from saying anything negative about the game.

[50][51] During Sony's State of Play held in May, the game was revealed to also be released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, as well as its upcoming beta playtest.

[12][52][53] On November 16, 2024, it was confirmed that Marvel Rivals features an option to select between English, Japanese or Mandarin voice overs at a launch date.

[75][76][77] Game Rant mentions the introduction of a "vote to surrender" feature in Rivals sparked debate within the player community.

Supporters argued it helps avoid frustrating, unwinnable situations, particularly during connectivity issues or unbalanced matches.

Critics, however, feared it might foster a defeatist attitude and disrupt team dynamics, potentially leading to increased negativity and premature match endings.

[83][84][85] The Chinese games industry research website GameLook estimated a revenue of about $135 million across all platforms in this period.

[87][88] Microsoft revealed Marvel Rivals was one of the games on Xbox with the highest single-day active users in 2024.

[89][90][91] On February 20, 2025, NetEase released its financial earnings report, showing that Marvel Rivals reached over 40 million players to date.

[92][93][94] The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Marvel Rivals for "Online Game of the Year" at the 28th Annual D.I.C.E.