NetEase released Marvel Rivals Season 9 last Friday, bringing tons of new changes to the game. The game developer changed approximately 80% of the heroes, making this one of the riskiest updates yet. However, the experiment has worked out in their favor.

With the release of Season 9, the Marvel Rivals player count has exploded. According to Steam Charts, the game peaked at nearly 200,000 concurrent players shortly after the season’s release. This milestone is rare, as the hero shooter has only reached this player count in five separate months total, and only once in the past 12 months

Marvel Rivals player count is on the rise after a massive update

In Season 9, NetEase released numerous buffs and nerfs, drastically changing the meta. On top of this, the game developer released a couple of global changes that affect every hero. These changes include adjustments to shield generation and a slower ultimate ability charge. As it turns out, this is just what the game needed.

Less than 12 hours after the season went live, the player count on Steam Charts peaked at 196,974 players. The last time the game surpassed this number was in January 2026, during the Deadpool hype. Before that, Marvel Rivals peaked at this number in April 2025, as many players logged in to try Emma Frost in Season 2.5.

With the player count on the rise, we expect more amazing content coming to the game soon. Season 9.5 will bring The Hood to Marvel Rivals, and his role has already been leaked. Beyond that, we expect another map and an event, as well as more balance changes.

The new Marvel Rivals season still offers some free Units from the summer event, which is great for players looking to grab cosmetics from the store. On top of this, players can obtain a couple of free skins by redeeming active Marvel Rivals codes.