As a hero shooter fan, 2025 was an amazing year. After the disappointing year 2024, where Concorda game I personally enjoyed was killed before it even had a chance, both Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2 he had tremendous years. Marvel Rivals they hit their stride and prove that it can deliver new content faster than any other hero shooter with monthly character attrition and a surprising PvE experience out of the blue. Overwatch 2 justified its existence by sweeping changes across all domains; the lore codex, Progression 2.0, the perk system, and the spectacular Stadium mode all disappeared in a matter of months. While 2026 will hopefully be similarly good for fans of both games, one game seems to have a clear advantage with the first season of the new year.
Of course, this is not ideal. I'm someone who plays both of these games equally and switches between them Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals every day to never get bored with a single title. I'd imagine others have a similar approach, so the idea that one of these games is poised to disappoint is troubling. Nevertheless, looking at what has already been said Marvel Rivals' upcoming content and the usual pattern for Overwatch 2it's a reasonable assumption that fans of the other are in for a regular season. I hope I'm wrong, but the signs are there. And if I'm right, and Overwatch 2 is beginning to stumble, not good news for even the most tribalistic of them Marvel Rivals fans.
Why Marvel Rivals Season 6 is shaping up to be better than Overwatch 2 Season 21
Marvel Rivals ended 2025 with a pretty bold promise to blow 2026 out of the water for its first full year in the market, specifically calling out NetEase Marvel RivalsFirst year “warm-up”. More PvE content for those who fell in love with Marvel Zombies is said to be on the way (offering something that Overwatch 2 didn't), while also telling players exactly who's coming in Season 6: Deadpool and Elsa Bloodstone. The Merc With a Mouth is easily the most popular character missing Marvel Rivalsso its long-awaited arrival will surely lead to a gigantic increase in players. As for Elsa, she is more specialized, but Rivals managed to make Angela popular, so maybe the cheeky monster hunter will also shine.
Deadpool's role is currently a mystery as anti-heroes change categories every week to play with players. It is now featured as a map, taking the fourth subversive humor to another level.
Overwatch 2on the other hand, with the arrival of Deadpool, he will struggle in terms of content without heroes. Because of both Overwatch 2Due to the high level of polish and the need to create characters from scratch as opposed to pulling from the massive comic book canon, Team 4 can only release characters every other season, meaning Vendetta was the last character we'd see for several months. This used to be balanced by “off season” having new maps for the core game modes… but unfortunately that hasn't happened in a while. The last new map for casual players was Flashpoint arena Aatlis in June last year, but racing enthusiasts like me have been waiting for a new map since June 2024 when Runasapi came into play. That's a year and a half with no more mainmap experience and the pool is very outdated as a result.
As for why Overwatch 2 Map addons have dried up, the logical answer is that the culprit is players pushing against the Clash game mode. Blizzard will likely build a few maps for Clash before giving up on the mode, which could be released sometime in 2025. Basically, that work will go to waste, setting Team 4 back and leaving the community without maps. Alternatively, Blizzard may have seen map voting data indicating that older maps are always chosen by fans, pushing the studio to quietly move away from new maps. Still, even though the map-hero-map-hero season cycle no longer exists, a fresh map every now and then is a must. Given how long it's been for a new competitive map, there's a real chance that Season 21 has no new hero or map to offer, setting it up for failure.
Why Overwatch 2 Season 21 could potentially be a disappointment is bad news for everyone
Overwatch 2Season 21 could certainly surprise us by bringing a new map out of the blue or an even bigger addition like Stadium. However, I am personally concerned, and all hero shooter fans should be – yes, even the biggest critics Overwatch 2 who are just enjoying themselves Marvel Rivals. Competition is good for consumers and is essential for quality content so that one side does not enjoy too much; that's why, even though I'm a PlayStation fighter at heart, I'm not happy that it basically won the console war. Just like I don't want the Xbox to keep fumbling because it might cause the PlayStation to make less games that I like because it's less developed to keep up with its hardware, Overwatch 2 dropping out would allow NetEase to settle.
Some of the best things about Marvel Rivals are its free unlockables. This is one area where even the toughest Overwatch 2 the fan wouldn't fight back Rivals do better than when Overwatch 2 he usually just gives away free skins in his events, Rivals provided the following skins just to play his game:
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Wasteland Ultron
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Iron Spider Spider-Man
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The Thing symbiote
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Mrs. Barnes Black Widow
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Jeff the trading shark
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Blade Knight Blade
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Plush Fuzzlefin Jeff
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Flora Maiden Mantis
In a world where Marvel Rivals he doesn't need to keep up with the prosperous Overwatch 2perhaps these event appearances are becoming less frequent. After all, players would definitely pay for something like Iron Spider, so we're really happy we earned it instead. The same goes for generous chrono-token events that allow players to collect free currency, or paid mini-passes that still include free skins and items. With less competition, NetEase should have an easier time adopting controversial gacha mechanics like those associated with the recent Psylocke skin, or dropping less exciting rewards to make a profit. If a weak season of 21 were to happen, followed by more disappointing seasons, Rivals they might have felt less pressure to go above and beyond, with changes accepted begrudgingly because players would say “at least it's not Overwatch.”
Obviously this shouldn't happen. Even if Overwatch 2 If Season 21 disappoints as much as I fear it will, Blizzard could right the ship with a content filled Season 22 and reignite the rivalry. And outside Overwatch 2The recent controversy surrounding the China-only event is the norm, so there's reason to believe that Blizzard is cooking up something great behind the scenes. Still, if I noticed the new maps disappeared and stuff Overwatch 2The non-heroic Seasons feels barren more often than not, NetEase certainly does too, and might start taking its foot off the pedal knowing those windows are coming. Let's hope Blizzard has a trick up their sleeve Overwatch 2 Season 21 because Marvel Rivals brings out the big guns with Deadpool. And if both games don't do well and actively push each other to perform better, then all of their fans will be worse off.
- Released
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August 10, 2023
- ESRB
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T For Teens // Blood, mild language, tobacco use, violence
