As the one year anniversary for Marvel Rivals comes to pass, the developers can write off the first five seasons of its tenure as a moderate success. According to TrackerGG, the game retains around 70,000 to 90,000 players per day. While this is only around 25% of the original player count, it is still more than double of what its rival, Overwatch 2, is currently retaining.
That is not the part I am most impressed with, though.
Almost all video games have some sort of microtransactions within them. Whether it be paying a couple dollars for no ads on Wordscapes, or nearly $100 for a skin bundle on Valorant, it is common to see players spending a little money to enhance their experience on games they play.
There are many companies like Riot Games (who owns the likes of League of Legends, Valorant and Teamfight Tactics) that are known for making their merchandise and in-game cosmetics extremely expensive. Such price tags often make people hesitate before buying something. However, Marvel Rivals has a clever way to encourage these sales.
During regular season events, players are given access to a few free items in the seasonal battlepass. This usually includes a couple sprays, emotes, and a few dollars worth of in-game currency. That being said, if they buy full access to the battlepass, they get several character ‘costumes,’ emotes, sprays, playercards and a lot of in-game currency. This is where Marvel Rivals differs from other games.
The battlepass costs $10 for the ‘Luxury’ version, which is full access to all available items. And by finishing the ‘Luxury’ battlepass, the player earns around the same amount of currency that they spent on the battlepass—with the chance to earn even more if they play more than the battlepass requires. So, in their mind, they are breaking even on their initial purchase with many more cosmetic items in their digital pocket. In reality, the currency that the ‘earned back’ is going straight into the game, once again.
But the genius doesn’t end there.
During the Black Friday sale, there were two things that happened: almost the entire in-game store was discounted 37%, and people were given additional discounts that stacked on the aforementioned 37% if they bought discounted items. This was compounded by the Rivals Day celebration that was happening along the same time—something that is still going on. Players have opportunities to get $14 worth of temporary currency, gamble for multiple legendary skins and so many more exclusive things that they can only get within a limited amount of time.
Sure, you don’t really need to spend money on a costume for a character you don’t even play…but there’s a 33% chance that you could get it by only spending $5 of real money instead of the $22 that it’s valued at. What a steal, right? Maybe you miss, and have to spend another $5 to have a 50% chance of getting it—that is still a legendary skin that you’re getting for $12 less than it’s valued at. You might never actually play that character, but you got a pretty, legendary costume for a huge discount.
Marvel Rivals makes players feel included, feel special—and, as all good salespeople know, making connections with clients is the key to success. Add on a couple persuasive tactics and logical fallacies to seduce people into spending a little more they intended, and you have the perfect trap for microtransactions.
That’s the key to Marvel Rivals’ success.
