As a seasoned gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I’ve seen countless games come and go, some leaving lasting impressions while others are quickly forgotten. The recent failure of live-service games like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Concord has left many industry analysts scratching their heads. However, it seems that every rule has an exception, and Marvel Rivals is proving to be just that.
Despite some recent setbacks for live-service games like “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” and “Concord”, many industry experts believe that the peak of the live-service shooter has passed. However, contrary to these expectations, “Marvel Rivals”, which falls under this genre, has experienced a huge success during its opening weekend.
As a gaming enthusiast, I’ve pondered over the reasons behind Concord’s downfall in the gaming world, but it’s Marvel Rivals director, Thaddeus Sasser, who offers an insightful perspective on why his game thrived while Firewalk Studios encountered obstacles.
Marvel Rivals v Concord: Dusk of Live Service Shooters
In a recent conversation with Video Gamer (through VGC), Sasser pointed out that Concord might have failed due to the ‘switching cost’ being insufficiently appealing for players to switch over to that game. He elaborated, “There’s a switching cost… I’ve already invested in Overwatch, I’ve earned 15 skins for Pharah, I have no reason to move elsewhere.
Initially priced at $40 and built around an entirely novel intellectual property, Concord required considerable effort from the marketing team to convince players to buy a AAA game. To make matters worse, the gaming market is currently flooded with this genre. Many anticipated that the DC IP alone would entice players to explore Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Unfortunately, following some unfavorable reviews and a monotonous gameplay system, Suicide Squad failed to achieve the popularity it aimed for.
Why is Marvel Rivals So Successful?
It’s clear that many fans argue that matching Marvel Rivals against Concord was an unbalanced comparison. The primary reason for this viewpoint is that the success of Rivals can be attributed to its foundation on a multi-billion dollar Intellectual Property (IP). On the other hand, Concord was attempting to introduce a completely new universe, which didn’t receive much support from Sony in terms of marketing. As a result, the game had a disappointing launch.
It’s widely believed that “Rivals” might not have achieved the same level of popularity without the influence of Marvel characters. In truth, this seems like a reasonable assumption given the extensive history and wide reach of the Marvel brand, which spans comics, films, and toys. By the time the game was released, many were already eagerly anticipating the inclusion of specific Marvel characters in the game.
To put it another way, while Intellectual Property (IP) like the Avengers: A-Day game plays a role in a title’s success, it doesn’t guarantee it. Initially marketed as Marvel’s live service game, Avengers: A-Day had high expectations upon release. However, unfavorable reviews caused significant damage to the Marvel video game brand, even tarnishing the reputation of popular titles such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Midnight Sons despite their critical acclaim.
Who’s To Say?
To put it straight, even a seasoned pro like Sasser isn’t completely sure about the secret sauce behind a hit game. Here’s the deal, if anyone could pinpoint what makes a game successful, the gaming world as we know it would look drastically different by now.
Many games are released with high expectations, only for them to fail, or vice versa, they’re predicted to falter but end up thriving instead. This makes it quite challenging to predict the success of a game beforehand, and there’s always an element of worry involved.
Developers ought to strive for excellence when creating the game itself, and also invest time in crafting an effective marketing strategy, if they aim for their game to achieve widespread popularity.
Marvel Rivals is now playable for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.
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2024-12-13 23:42