Marvel Rivals emerged late last year as an unlikely winner amid a sea of failed live-service slop. What made the free-to-play hero shooter succeed where others hadn’t? Was it the well-oiled gameplay loop, the massive comic book IP behind it, or the steady flow of gooner skins for iconic characters like Emma Frost? Following the recent addition of swimsuits, Marvel Rivals‘ creative director was finally asked what he thinks about the “Overwatch for gooners” discourse.
“Because our design, as mentioned earlier, is inspired by classic comic themes, including some very outstanding skins, like Mantis, and also Psylocke’s Vengeance, these all come from classic comic designs,” Guangyun Chen told the YouTube channel RivalsAssembled at a recent tournament in China. “We take those classic comic designs and make some more fashionable designs based on them to gain players’ appreciation. I think this also reflects the broad recognition from our players.”
While Chen is right that Marvel Rivals is drawing upon a well-established history of hyper-sexualized designs, especially when it comes to female characters, every batch of skins usually includes at least a handful that suggest the NetEase studio knowns exactly what it’s doing. For example, fans instantly noticed when a pair of X-suit skins back in April buffed the butts of both Psylocke and Magik.
“As mentioned earlier with the Squirrel Girl and the Krakoa Resort skin, these are actually designs based on real-world themes and the season’s storyline,” Chen continued without cracking a smile. “For designs like these, we try our best to integrate the storylines from the season, including elements from Krakoa, and also blend some popular elements from real life. We create new designs based on that, and I’m very grateful these designs have been well-received by the majority of players.”
Sunshine Squirrel is by far one of the tamer skins Marvel Rivals has released this summer, however. The first batch of swimsuit outfits put both Psylocke and Luna Snow in tiny bikinis. Evening out the fan-service, however, was both Loki and The Punisher in speedos. Even The Fantastic Four‘s Thing was airing himself out. I’m sure all of these designs were implemented with only the highest ideals of fashion and authenticity to the source material top of mind.
In the meantime, Marvel Rivals has more pressing issues to attend to. The game’s rating on Steam is plummeting under an influx of complaints about allegedly manipulative matchmaking. The developers say that’s not the case, though, promising to brief players on all things related to matchmaking in an upcoming developer video.
