Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2 have been intertwined ever since the former's beginning. At first, players dunked on Rivals, saying that it was a poor copy of Overwatch 2. Then, as Rivals' open beta progressed and we closed in on its official release date, many claimed that its arrival would mark the death of Overwatch 2.
What actually happened is much less dramatic. Marvel Rivals released to great success with over 400,000 players at launch. Meanwhile, while Overwatch 2 saw a bit of a decrease in turnout and a slower season, it was able to claw its way back into relevancy with a very impressive Perks update and new Stadium mode.
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The timing of these updates being so close to Marvel Rivals' release and success made a lot of people think that it was, in fact, a direct response to such. But apparently that's not the case at all, at least not according to Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller.
"So much of what we were doing this year—from perks to Stadium to map voting—we did full hero bans, and all the heroes we're releasing have been in the works for over a year," Keller tells streamer Jay3 (via GamesRadar). "As part of a new strategy for the game to have a big annual kick-off to the year."
A lot of what we see in Stadium had been shown years in advance. Individual Powers like Soldier 76's healing pylon that could follow him as he ran were actually first shown at BlizzCon 2021 alongside a progression and talent system as part of the promised PvE update. I don't doubt that after this mode was confirmed dead, the devs began theorising ways to repackage the content, which would eventually lead to the new Stadium mode.
"I think that competition is healthy," Keller continues. "It does force people to innovate more and to always be putting your best foot forward, but I don't think what you're seeing in Overwatch 2 right now is a response to Marvel Rivals."
I don't think that last remark really adds up. I never thought that Marvel Rivals would shut Overwatch 2 down and take every last player with it. But there was still a huge amount of pressure, especially as players waited to see how the Overwatch 2 devs would respond to the challenge that Rivals posed. It must be hard to ignore that kind of atmosphere and expectations while you're working on new content—work wasn't done in a vacuum.
But regardless of whether content released since Rivals has been in response to its success, I have to say that this has been the best year for Overwatch 2's history. We finally got a huge update with a whole new standalone mode, Stadium, and every season has brought a ton of new fantastic content like Perks, heroes, maps, and adjustments.
