The rivalry betw🌠een Marvel Rivals and Blizzard Entertainment may not bﷺe as straightforward as it seems—at least not for Marvel Rivals’ developer, NetEase.
In its , NetEase credited M🦋arvel Riva🉐ls’ stellar launch as a key driver of its gaming division’s revenue despite the game releasing only in early December. The game amassed 10 million players in its first 72 hours and has reached 40 million registered players to date.
But what’s even more surprising is that wh��ღile Marvel Rivals is a direct competitor to Blizzard’s Overwatch 2, NetEase is profiting from Blizzard’s games at the same time.
Blizzard’s titles helped NetEase make profit as a publisher in China
In its 2024 financials, NetEase reported that Blizzard titles were part of their games division success: “Blizzard titles World of Warcraft and Hearthstone continued to generate strong enthusiasm from the Chinese gaming community, while the return of Overwatch 2 on February 19, 2025, further fueled players’ passion.”
NetEase has been Blizzard’s official publisher in China since April 9, 2024, following a renewed publishing agreement. This means NetEase gets paid by Blizzard, most likely including revenue share, for making its games available to players in China. While it’s unclear how much of an impact this partnership really has on NetEase’s financials, it was enough for them to highlight it.
This marked a turnaround in their relationship, as Blizzard had withdrawn from the Chinese market in January 2023, refusing to renew its contract with NetEase.
However, when Micro𒈔soft finalized its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October 2023, the dynamic s🤡hifted. By Apr🧸il 2024, Blizzard and NetEase had reached a new agreement, restoring their partnership.
Blizzard’s games returned to China after a long absence—Hearthstone went live again in September 2024, while World of Warcraft relaunched on August 1, 2024.
But Blizzard is feeling the pressure from Marvel Rivals
Despite NetEase profiting from✤ both Marvel Rivals and Blizzard gam🔯es, Blizzard’s Overwatch team is feeling the heat.
W🅷ith Marvel Rivals’ gameplay drawing direct comparisons to Overwatch 2 and💃 its instant success, Overwatch director Aaron Keller admitted that his team is under internal pressure due to the new competition, according to .
Still, even with strong financial results, NetEase made a surprising move—laying off its entire U.S. team wജorking on Marvel Rivals on Feb. 18, 2025.
Published: Feb 20, 2025 01:39 pm