As a hero shooter fan, 2025 was a great year. After a disappointing 2024 there Harmonya game I personally liked was killed before it even had a chance, both of them Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2 had tremendous years. Marvel Rivals reached out and proved it could deliver new content faster than any other hero shooter with monthly character drops and a surprising PvE experience out of nowhere. Overwatch 2 justified its existence with sweeping changes across the board; a lore codex, Progression 2.0, the perk system, and the spectacular Stadium mode all dropped in a matter of months. While 2026 will hopefully be equally good for fans of both games, it feels like one game will have a clear advantage with the first season of the new year.
This is obviously not ideal. I am someone who plays both of these games equally and switches between Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals every day so that I never get bored of any of the title. I can imagine others have a similar approach, so the thought of one of these games being lined up to disappoint you is concerning. But when you look at what has already been said about Marvel Rivals' upcoming content, and the usual pattern of Overwatch 2it's a fair assumption that fans of the latter are in for a season. Hopefully I'm wrong, but the signs are there. And if I'm right, and Overwatch 2 begins to stumble, it is not good news, even for the most tribalistic 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 rather bold promise that 2026 would blow its first full year on the market out of the water, with NetEase specifically Marvel Rivals' first year a “warm-up.” It says more PvE content for those who fell in love with Marvel Zombies is on the way (offering something Overwatch 2 doesn'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 his long-awaited arrival is sure to lead to a giant surge in players. As for Elsa, she's more niche, though Rivals managed to make Angela popular, so maybe the sassy monster hunter will shine too.
Deadpool's role is currently a mystery, with the anti-hero switching categories every week to mess with players. He is now listed as a map, which takes the fourth wall breaking humor to another level.
Overwatch 2on the other hand, will combat the arrival of Deadpool with a heroless season of content. Because of both Overwatch 2Due to its high level of polish and its need to create characters from scratch as opposed to pulling from a massive series canon, Team 4 can only release characters every other season, meaning Vendetta was the last character we'd see for months. This used to be balanced out by the 'off season' having new maps for the core game modes… but unfortunately that hasn't happened for a while now. The last new map for casual players was Flashpoint arena Aatlis last June, but racers like me have been waiting for a new map since June 2024 when Runasapi came to the game. It's been a year and a half without another core map experience, and the pool has become very stale as a result.
As for why Overwatch 2 map extensions dried up, the logical answer is that players pushing back against the Clash game mode is the culprit. Blizzard will likely have built multiple maps for Clash before giving up on the mode, which could have been released throughout 2025. Essentially, that work will have been wasted, 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, prompting the studio to quietly move away from new maps. Still, even if the map-hero-map-hero seasonal cycle is no more, a new map here and there is a must. However, given how long it's been for a new competitive map, there's a real chance that Season 21 won't have a new hero or map to offer, leaving it a flop.
Why Overwatch 2 Season 21 would potentially be a disappointment would be bad news for everyone
Overwatch 2The 21st season could certainly surprise us, with a new map or an even bigger addition like Stadium out of nowhere. Personally, though, I'm worried, and all hero shooter fans should be – well, even the biggest critics of Overwatch 2 who just enjoy Marvel Rivals. Competition benefits consumers and is essential for quality content so that one side doesn't get too comfortable; That's why, despite being a PlayStation guy at my core, I'm not happy that it's basically winning the console war. Kind of like I don't want the Xbox to keep fumbling, because it might cause the PlayStation to make less of the games I like because it's less pressured to get eyes on the hardware, Overwatch 2 falling off would allow NetEase to become complacent.
Some of the best things with Marvel Rivals is its free unlockable. This is an area where even the most dedicated Overwatch 2 hell wouldn't argue against Rivals feeling better for a while Overwatch 2 usually only give out recolors for free in their events, Rivals has provided the following skins just to play their game:
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Wasteland Ultron
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Iron Spider Spider-Man
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Symbiote The Thing
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Mrs Barnes Black Widow
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Business Shark Jeff
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Blade Knight Blade
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Cuddly Fuzzlefin Jeff
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Flora Maiden Mantis
In a world there Marvel Rivals need not keep up with a flourishing Overwatch 2maybe these amazing event skins will become less common. Players would surely have paid for something like Iron Spider, after all, so we're really lucky we got to earn it instead. The same goes for the generous chrono-token events that let players collect free currency, or the paid mini-cards that still include free skins and items. With less competition, NetEase would have an easier time embracing controversial gacha mechanics like those tied to the latest Psylocke skin, or releasing less exciting freebies to earn. If a weak season 21 occurred and it was followed by more disappointing seasons, Rivals could feel less pressure to go above and beyond, with changes reluctantly accepted because players would say, “at least it's not Monitoring.”
Of course this should not happen. Even if Overwatch 2 Season 21 disappoints me as much as I'm worried it will, Blizzard could right the ship with a content filled Season 22 and rekindle the rivalry. And outside Overwatch 2s recent China-exclusive event controversy, it's been a rule, so there's reason to believe that Blizzard is cooking up something cool behind the scenes. Still, if I have noticed that new maps have faded away and that Overwatch 2Non-Hero seasons feel barren more often than not, NetEase certainly does too, and it can start to let its foot off the pedal when it knows the windows are approaching. Hopefully Blizzard has a trick up its sleeve Overwatch 2 Season 21, since Marvel Rivals brings out the big guns with Deadpool. And if both games don't thrive and actively push each other to do better, all of their fans will be worse off for it.
- Released
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August 10, 2023
- ESRB
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T for Teens // Blood, mild language, tobacco use, violence
