Marvel Rivals Shatters Concurrent Player Record with Season 1 Launch

The free-to-play team-based shooter, Marvel Rivals, has once again broken its own concurrent player record, reaching a staggering 644,269 players on January 11th following the release of Season 1: Eternal Night Falls. This surpasses its previous peak of 480,990 players achieved during its launch week.

Season 1: Eternal Night Falls – A Night of New Content

Launched on January 10th, Season 1 introduced a wealth of new content to keep players engaged. This includes:

• New playable characters
• A brand-new map
• Game performance improvements and optimizations
• A revamped ranked tier system
• A fresh Battle Pass

The influx of new content clearly resonated with players, driving the massive surge in concurrent players over the weekend. The storyline revolves around Dracula and Doctor Doom plunging the city into eternal night, while the Fantastic Four join the fight against this vampiric threat.

For detailed patch notes, including specific character adjustments, visit the official Marvel Rivals website or the Steam community hub.

The Double-Edged Sword: Goodbye Mods

While Season 1 brought excitement, it also resulted in the removal of community-created mods. The update implemented asset hash checking, which detects inconsistencies in game files. This effectively prevents the use of unauthorized modifications, including custom skins and cheats.

This change has sparked a mixed reaction within the community. Some players mourn the loss of custom content, like Luna Snow's Hatsune Miku skin, while others see it as a necessary step to maintain fairness and combat cheating in a free-to-play game reliant on cosmetic sales.