Dataminers of Marvel Rivals have been buzzing with excitement and skepticism over lists of potential future characters they've uncovered in the game's code. While some of these names, like the Fantastic Four, were quickly confirmed, others have led to speculation that the developers at NetEase and Marvel might be playing a clever game of misdirection.

The community remains divided on the authenticity of these datamined characters, with some believing that the developers are intentionally planting false leads. To get to the bottom of this, we spoke directly with Marvel Rivals producer Weicong Wu and Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo. They firmly denied any trolling, emphasizing their focus on developing the game rather than misleading fans.

Wu explained the complexity of character design, stating, "So firstly we want to say that we don't recommend anybody to make adjustments to the files [of the game]. Also, you can see that for each character's design actually we come through a very complicated process and we make a lot of concepts, trials, prototypes, development, et cetera. So there could be some information left in the code, and it might mean that we have tried those directions and they may appear or may not appear in our future plans. And whether or not they will appear in our future pipeline is highly depending on what kind of gameplay experience our players would expect in our game."

Koo added, "If I could have a ten-year plan, it'd be great. But the team experimented with a lot of play styles, heroes. It was like there's someone doing scratch paperwork and then just left a notebook there, and someone [a dataminer] decided to open it with no context."

When pressed about any deliberate trolling, Koo was clear: "No. We would rather spend our time developing the actual game."

In our discussion, we also delved into the process of selecting new characters for Marvel Rivals. The team plans updates about a year in advance, aiming to add new characters every month and a half. NetEase focuses on balancing the game by introducing new characters and experiences rather than constantly tweaking existing ones. They consider what type of character and skillset is needed to enhance the roster's variety and balance.

Once a list of potential characters is compiled, NetEase collaborates with Marvel Games to develop initial designs. They also take into account community feedback and upcoming Marvel projects, such as films or comic arcs, to finalize their choices. This approach explains the presence of numerous hero names in the game's code, as NetEase continuously explores various ideas.

Marvel Rivals has been a hit since its launch, and the addition of new characters like the Human Torch and The Thing, set to join on February 21, only adds to its appeal. We also discussed the potential for a Marvel Rivals release on the Nintendo Switch 2, which you can read more about here.