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In an exclusive interview with Danny Koo, Marvel Games’ Executive Producer currently leading Marvel Rivals, at gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show, he revealed what players can expect from the game’s evolving roadmap. With nearly 10 months since launch under his belt, Koo had plenty to share about the team’s ambitious plans, including their first foray into PvE content and lessons learned from managing one of the fastest content pipelines in the hero shooter space.
Zombies Invade Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals is stepping into new territory with its first PvE mode: Marvel Zombie Mode. The limited-time event, which Koo describes as a “testbed,” features five playable characters battling waves of undead enemies across New York before facing off against the ultimate boss, the Queen of the Dead.
“It’s the first PvE mode for Marvel Rivals. It only has five characters right now,” Koo explained.
“It’s just like a testbed to see what players like, how the system works, and hopefully in the future we’ll deploy more PvE mode based on data collected from this round of PvE event.”
The mode represents a collaboration with Marvel Animation, with assets pulled directly from the show. “We have a zombie Namor and a zombie Queen of the Dead from the show. The costumes are very close to the animation,” Koo noted. The team received early access to animation assets to ensure authenticity, maintaining regular updates with Marvel Animation throughout development.
Strategic Character Selection
The roster for Zombie Mode isn’t random. Thor, Magik, Jeff the Landshark, Punisher, and Blade were each chosen to represent different player fantasies and thematic matchups. Punisher serves as the everyday soldier archetype for fans of traditional zombie shooters like Call of Duty or Left 4 Dead. Jeff made the cut because, as Koo put it, “everybody loves Jeff,” adding a unique animal versus zombie dynamic.
“For Thor, it’s like God versus zombie, right? Magik is interesting because she’s a demon as well, Queen of Limbo, so demon versus zombie, and Blade. You’ve got to have Blade because he’s a vampire hunter, so vampire hunter versus zombie,” Koo said. Blade also sports a special Moonblade costume from the show, blending Moon Knight’s aesthetic with the vampire hunter’s character.
The mode will run for two to three weeks to cover the Halloween period before the team evaluates player feedback and engagement patterns. However, Koo hinted that this is just the beginning for PvE content.
The Future of PvE Content
While Zombie Mode is time-limited, the foundation it establishes points to bigger possibilities. Koo acknowledged the flood of fan suggestions the team has received. “We’ve seen a lot of fan feedback, it’s like, ‘Hey, you have these zombie modes, what about you fighting Ultron bots? What about X-Men, fighting a bunch of Sentinels.’ The sky’s the limit with this mode. This is a tech built for future foundation.”
One of the biggest adjustments Marvel Rivals has made since launch involves hero release cadence. Originally, seasons lasted three months with two heroes per season. The team noticed player interest waning toward the end of each cycle, prompting a shift to two-month seasons with more frequent character drops.
“Now the season, we move it shorter to two months, because we realize at the tail end of a season, players are like, ‘All right, what’s the next character I want to play?'” Koo explained.
“They say, ‘All right, you play one character a month now,’ which is crazy. It’s unheard of. By the end of this year, we will have 45 characters in the game already.”
This aggressive schedule comes with significant challenges. Each new character exponentially increases the workload for balancing, bug testing, and costume design. Some characters require multiple costume variants per release. “Characters like Magik, you have Magic and her Dark Child side, so we have to design two costumes every time for the pairing. Cloak and Dagger, every time we have to do two costumes. Hulk, we have to do three every time,” Koo revealed.
Quality of Life Improvements
Beyond content, the team is addressing player feedback on matchmaking and progression systems. Current seasonal resets demote players by several ranks, forcing them to regrind each season. The solution in development is a placement match system similar to other competitive games.
“At the start of a season, you play placement matches so that you go into the right rank immediately, and then you go from there every season. But we’re still working on that system,” Koo said.
Cross-progression is also in active testing with a limited pool of players, with plans for full deployment next season.
Through 10 months of operation, certain characters have established themselves as consistent favorites. “Characters like Jeff the Landshark, Luna, Invisible Woman, Cloak and Dagger, these are the go-to staples for the player base,” Koo shared. While new heroes spike in popularity upon release, these core characters maintain their top 10 positions season after season.
Looking ahead, Koo teased plans for the game’s first anniversary.
“The Anniversary is coming, right? So please look forward to that. We have a great event planned for the anniversary as well. We have even new features.”
With new maps arriving each season, an expanding roster, and experiments in PvE content, Marvel Rivals continues to evolve at a breakneck pace. Whether the team can sustain this momentum remains to be seen, but for now, they’re committed to meeting player demand with an unusually aggressive content schedule.
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