Marvel Rivals was almost canceled? Report indicates that NetEase considered abandoning the game due to licensing costs.

Marvel Shooter is a global phenomenon, but almost took a different turn backstage

Officially launched on December 5, 2024, Marvel Rivals quickly became one of the most popular games in the world. The shooter based on the iconic heroes and villains of Marvel gained a huge player base, but according to a recent report from Bloomberg, the game almost didn't make it to the market. The reason? The high costs of character licensing.

The backstage controversy

According to the publication, William Ding, CEO of NetEase, seriously considered canceling the project due to the amounts required to secure the rights to use characters from Marvel. The executive even suggested that the development team replace the iconic heroes and villains with original characters, in an attempt to cut costs.

However, the strategy proved to be unfeasible. The cost of creating a new original universe, with characters and a narrative that could sustain a game of this magnitude, ended up being even more expensive than simply keeping the already licensed cast from Marvel. As a result, the company backtracked and maintained the original plan of betting on the well-known figures from comics and cinema.

NetEase was approached to comment on the information and completely denied the rumors, sparking a big debate in the gaming community.

The battle of licensing in games

The issue of licensing costs is not new in the gaming industry. One of the most famous cases involved Electronic Arts, which decided to end its partnership with FIFA to avoid paying a fortune for the use of the football entity's name. This led to the birth of the new franchise EA Sports FC.

Furthermore, the challenges of working with licensed properties were also seen in the failure of Marvel’s Avengers, from Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix. The game, released in 2020, never managed to achieve the expected success and was discontinued in 2023.

Given this, it wouldn't be so absurd to imagine that NetEase had concerns before launching Marvel Rivals. But, so far, everything indicates that the bet paid off. The game continues to be popular, attracting millions of players, and promises to establish itself as one of the great multiplayer titles in the coming years.