Every mid-season update in Marvel Rivals has added a new hero, until now. Season 10.5 launched on October 9, 2026, with an Avengers: Infinity War mode instead, and the Marvel Rivals player count barely moved. The launch peak on Steam was 42% lower than for Season 10.
According to SteamCharts, the Marvel Rivals player count peaked at roughly 84,600 on the launch night of Season 10.5. To put this into perspective, Season 10 reached 146,426 players four weeks earlier, when Gorr the God Butcher joined the roster. However, Steam is only one platform, and a second new mode is still on the way.
How the Marvel Rivals player count changed after Season 10.5
Season 10.5 went live on Friday, October 9, after maintenance that started at 9 AM UTC. The Marvel Rivals player count on Steam climbed to roughly 84,600 at around 11 PM ET that night, which was about 15,600 more than the night before. However, the peak was only about 2,800 players above the previous Friday.
The rest of the weekend followed the same pattern. Over the next two days, the Marvel Rivals player count peaked at about 80,800 and 79,600 on Steam, while the same two days of the previous weekend peaked at roughly 77,800 each. That puts the first weekend of Season 10.5 just 2% to 4% above the previous weekend.
The gap becomes clearer next to the last two launches, as both of them added a hero. These are the launch peaks of the last three Marvel Rivals updates on Steam, according to SteamCharts:
- Season 9.5 (The Hood): 144,922 players
- Season 10 (Gorr the God Butcher): 146,426 players
- Season 10.5 (No new hero): ~84,600 players
NetEase skipped the mid-season hero on purpose, as the team shifted its focus to the Path to Doomsday modes. Creative director Guangguang said that a one-hero season is not the new normal. Two heroes are planned for Season 11, which is expected to start on November 13, 2026.
It’s important to note that these figures only cover Steam, as Marvel Rivals is also available on PlayStation, Xbox, and other PC launchers. In addition to that, the 50-player Avengers: Endgame mode arrives on October 22, and PvE has helped before. A year ago, the Marvel Rivals player count skyrocketed after the Marvel Zombies mode launched.
In the meantime, a recent leak points to Doctor Doom and Nightcrawler as Marvel Rivals Season 11 heroes. These two characters should positively affect the Marvel Rivals player count, and we expect it to easily surpass the 100,000 mark in November.
