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Marvel Rivals celebrates a successful launch, with NetEase Games' Overwatch rival hitting over 10 million players in just 3 days

Marvel Rivals, a free-to-play hero shooter similar to Overwatch 2, has amassed over 10 million players in just three days across PC and consoles, demonstrating significant early success on Steam and surpassing even Overwatch's initial player base growth rate.

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With Marvel Rivals out now and available to both console and PC players for free, developer NetEase Games is celebrating the success of its new Overwatch 2-esque shooter - and how it managed to snag the attention of over 10 million players after just three days.

Marvel Rivals only launched a few days ago, but the hero shooter is already making its mark as a smash hit. According to NetEase in an online post from earlier today, the game has more than 10 million players already. "In just 72 hours," announces the studio, "we've reached an incredible milestone of 10 million players worldwide! We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you. Let's ignite the battle together!"

🎉 In just 72 hours, we’ve reached an incredible milestone of 10 million players worldwide! 🎉We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you. 🫶Let’s ignite the battle together! 💖#MarvelRivals pic.twitter.com/5njTulx24eDecember 9, 2024

It's an impressive achievement - one that could even outshine Blizzard Entertainment's own Overwatch. The iconic 2016 shooter hit 25 million players in eight months, but its sequel saw success much more quickly, boasting similar numbers after just 10 days and "nearly triple" the original's peak of daily users. There's no telling whether Marvel Rivals will reach 25 million itself, but it seems safe to say it's on the right path.

After all, along with Path of Exile, Marvel Rivals is pulling massive crowds on Steam with Valve's platform seeing a record 39 million concurrent users. Unlike Overwatch, however, the game will stay on  PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with no Nintendo Switch port planned. There's also no mobile version in the works, whereas Blizzard is reportedly going the Call of Duty route itself with an upcoming mobile edition of Overwatch 2.

Not sure about the game yet? Read our Marvel Rivals review to learn more about it.