‘Marvel Rivals’ Sees a Major Drop in Active Players as Negative Steam Reviews Continue To Pile Up

Public sentiment around Marvel Rivals seems to have gone sour, as the PC version of the title is being slammed with negative reviews on Steam. The once-beloved multiplayer game has also seen a substantial drop in active players. Why is the Marvel Rivals community turning on the popular free-to-play game?

‘Marvel Rivals’ Now Has Mixed Reviews On Steam

When Marvel Rivals first launched in 2024, the game was lauded by critics and fans for its fun gameplay and balanced combat. Players specifically praised developer NetEase for their communication with the community and continuous support to keep the game balanced. However, fans have recently turned on the Marvel game over the last few months.

Over on Steam, Marvel Rivals currently has a “Mixed” rating. That is because it’s been getting slammed by negative reviews since the beginning of June. Similar to Monster Hunter Wilds’ recent negative reception, players have been complaining that the Marvel multiplayer has had increasingly poor performance problems with its PC release.

However, many of the negative reviews also focused on the game’s recent balancing updates and poor online matches. “The matchmaking is an absolute disaster and outrage,” a recent reviewer wrote. Another exclaimed, “Marvel Rivals is dragged down by the worst balancing and matchmaking in the history of gaming.” One negative Steam comment simply said: “The devs don’t know what they’re doing with balancing updates.”

The NetEase Multiplayer game Is Bleeding Players

Interestingly, Marvel Rivals’ active player base also seems to be dwindling with each new balancing update. At its peak, the multiplayer had over 644,269 players. As of June 22, the game reached only 96,166 active users. That is an almost 80% decrease! This is pretty incredible, considering just how popular Marvel Rivals was a few months ago.

Although it should be pointed out that it’s pretty common for games to lose players over time. And let’s be real, 100,000 active players is nothing to sneeze at. Also, this chart only tracks Steam players on PC, and not consoles. So, the true number of Marvel Rivals’ player base in 2025 isn’t currently known.

Still, with how beloved Marvel Rivals was, it’s hard not to be a little shocked by that drop from 644k players. I can only speak for myself, but I fully expected the NetEase game to overtake Overwatch by a good margin. But it looks like players of the Marvel multiplayer are increasingly frustrated with its matchmaking, balancing updates, and performance issues.