A while ago, while attending BitSummit, my colleagues and I discovered a unique indie game called Echoes of the Path. This game innovates well within the platformer puzzle framework by incorporating concepts like "record," "play," and "rewind" from cassette tapes, giving the game a unique playful charm.
Upon returning, out of curiosity, I searched for information about this developer and found that he had been sharing his development journey on X (formerly Twitter). Initially, Echoes of the Path was just a simple PICO-8 game. The creator, Shoma, spent several years refining it bit by bit. Progress wasn't fast until Shoma participated in an indie game support program called iGi (indie Game incubator), which significantly accelerated the game's development.
This is quite a thought-provoking matter. As players, we often judge whether a country or region's game industry is outstanding by looking at the excellent games its creators have made. However, as a creative industry with high industrialization requirements, one of the true marks of maturity for a country or region's game industry should be having sufficiently robust upstream and downstream supporting facilities.
Indie game authors wanting to express themselves are not rare, but these authors often lack strength and resources. Facing the always brutal game market, it is difficult for them to make their voices heard. At this point, they need corresponding platforms to help them. In countries and regions where the game industry started earliest, programs like iGi specifically designed to support indie game authors are not uncommon. Developer lectures, game design tutorials, and numerous Game Jam activities have provided many indie authors with better stages for growth.
The GDC (Global Developer Conference) is one of the most important projects among them.
The same logic applies domestically. However, as industrialization becomes more mature, more people in China are beginning to value the cultivation and support of game authors, and many upstream and downstream supporting facilities are gradually being established. Among these, the "China Game Innovation Awards" is a crucial component.
The "China Game Innovation Awards" is a game innovation competition for Chinese game developers, guided by the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, hosted by the China Game Industry Research Institute, and organized by TapTap and the Shanghai Online Game Industry Association. The event is supported by the Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau and the Jing'an District People's Government, with assistance from many game companies.
From the composition of the organizers, one can see the prestige of this event; winning an award here is almost equivalent to receiving official endorsement. The awards cover various fields of game development. The inaugural Best Innovative Game Award was given to miHoYo's Genshin Impact and Chongqing Youzimao Game's Dyson Sphere Program, both of which were phenomenal domestic games that year.
In the award structure of the "China Game Innovation Awards," the "Best Innovative Global Expansion Award" is a relatively special category. This award is granted to outstanding game works that have achieved significant results in going global and expanding into overseas markets, received positive social response, demonstrated prominent economic benefits, and possess originality and iconic status.
The reason this award is considered special lies in the significant meaning that "going global" holds for Chinese games.
For creative works, we have always adhered to the concept that "what is national is universal." We have always hoped to maintain our cultural characteristics while allowing the world to see works that tell Chinese stories. This applies to the gaming industry as well. Domestic players have always wanted to show the world the great games we make, but unfortunately, this path has not been smooth.
In 1999, Target Software's title Iron Storm had its overseas publishing rights purchased by an American company, which produced English, French, and German versions, making it the first domestically produced game to go global. Subsequently, Target Software continued to achieve considerable success in its global expansion. Its 2001 release, Three Kingdoms: Fate of the Dragon, was the first Chinese game to appear at E3, and the following year's Prince of Qin was praised by the renowned overseas gaming media outlet GameSpot as "Diablo in history."
Stepping onto the world stage and joining the global player celebration is something Chinese games have been doing for over twenty years. We have been achieving phased successes, such as the globally viral Genshin Impact, many domestically produced MMORPGs popular in Southeast Asia, some SLGs that conquered players in the Middle East, and most importantly, Black MYTH - Steam Edition: Wukong, which gained global recognition last year.
Looking back at the past decade, the achievements Chinese games have made in going global have almost all been in emerging game sectors, such as mobile games or mini-program games. For instance, the winners of the "Best Innovative Global Expansion Award" at the 4th China Game Innovation Awards last year were Lilith Games' Call of Dragons and XD Inc.'s Let's Go Muffin.
To some extent, this has stereotyped the world's perception of Chinese games.
But this year, the situation is somewhat different, because among the winners of the "Best Innovative Global Expansion Award" at the 5th China Game Innovation Awards this year, there is one named—
Marvel Rivals.
Compared to other titles, Marvel Rivals winning this award holds a very different significance. Historically, shooter games, especially competitive shooters, have been the forte of Western developers—both in single-player and online multiplayer domains. Franchises like Quake, CS, DOOM, COD, and Battlefield not only created this genre but also defined its form. For a long time, nearly every evolution in shooter gameplay has been driven by titles released by Western studios.
For decades, only PUBG, an outlier that appeared out of nowhere, broke this rule.
However, after PUBG, it was still Fortnite and Apex Legends that drove the popularity of the "Battle Royale" gameplay type.
It can be said that standing out in the overseas shooter market is a challenge of hellish difficulty. However, Marvel Rivals completed this challenge beautifully.
On its launch day, Marvel Rivals spectacularly topped the Steam best-sellers chart and has long held a prominent position on the rankings. In just three days, the game's player count exceeded 10 million; two months after launch, this number reached 40 million, with a peak concurrent player count surpassing 640,000. It is undoubtedly a dark horse among competitive shooters in the past two years.
Previously, on popular overseas streaming platforms like Twitch, the games dominating the heat rankings were always established titles. Whether it was "That Game 5" (GTA V), LoL, or Fortnite, new contenders rarely managed to compete with them. However, after the launch of Marvel Rivals, this dark horse broke through strongly and ultimately claimed the top spot on Twitch's heat charts.
Although it was only released in December 2024, Marvel Rivals still secured a spot on the "Steam Year-Round Hot Play List" thanks to its outstanding performance. In addition, many overseas professional media outlets gave Marvel Rivals high praise. KOTAKU named it one of the Top 10 Shooter Games of 2024, and GameRant rated it as one of the Top 10 Multiplayer Games of the year. Later, Marvel Rivals even received a nomination for "Online Game of the Year" at the 28th DICE Awards, despite having been out for just over two months at the time.
Today, Marvel Rivals' player community on Discord is already the largest globally. For a game that has been out for just over half a year, the wave it has generated worldwide is truly remarkable.
By single-handedly changing the landscape of the shooter game market globally, Marvel Rivals fully deserves the "Best Innovative Global Expansion Award" at this year's China Game Innovation Awards. This award summarizes the achievements Marvel Rivals has made in going global over the past period and represents the recognition of the entire Chinese gaming industry.
But Marvel Rivals clearly does not intend to stop here. Bolstered by the award and its successful global expansion, it still hopes to further expand its influence. And its next move is coming soon.
Marvel Rivals is about to start Season 3.5, which will introduce significant new content.
The new hero, Eric Brooks, also known as Blade, will join the game. This vampire hunter will possess two different types of ability modes: firearms and long blades. Players can deal with various situations by improving their proficiency with him.
Meanwhile, with the arrival of Blade, Marvel Rivals will introduce a new competitive mode featuring the latest match validation system, which determines whether a match is valid or invalid based on its content. This validation will be applied to matches involving disconnected players or cheaters. Based on this determination, players whose experience was disrupted will receive compensation, while rule-violating players will be penalized. This further strengthens the official enforcement of in-game rules, providing players with a better competitive environment.
These content updates and adjustments to in-game details largely address issues repeatedly raised in player feedback. Marvel Official quickly optimized these aspects upon discovery, demonstrating their determination to ensure the game's long-term stable development to some extent.
Not only is Marvel Rivals making moves within the game, but it also has big plans outside of it. After receiving the "Best Innovative Global Expansion Award" and official endorsement, Marvel Rivals will further expand its brand influence by hosting global tournaments. With its excellent gameplay design, this title already has a massive player base globally. When global tournaments are held, the enthusiasm of players worldwide will be connected through the events.
This process creates a win-win situation for both players and the event organizers. The game will continue to improve with more enthusiastic player support, providing better content. As official tournaments become more professional, mature and exciting global events will offer players more stages to showcase their skills, attract more professional players, and continuously raise the level of competition, creating a virtuous cycle for the game's global development.
Based on this vision, Marvel Rivals had esports ambitions from the very beginning. Shortly after launch, it actively divided various regions globally and held tournaments such as the "Marvel Rivals Champions Cup" and "Marvel Rivals Invitational."
These tournaments sent out certain signals, leading many highly skilled professional players to establish Marvel Rivals esports teams shortly after they concluded.
These preparations soon found their chance for validation. A few months ago, Marvel Rivals officially announced its first global tournament—the "Ignite" Series. This series will include five major regions: "Americas," "Europe, Middle East & Africa," "Oceania," "Asia," and "China," with a total prize pool exceeding $3 million.
Over a month ago, the first stage of the "Ignite" Series China Region officially kicked off. With a prize pool of 720,000 RMB, the event ran from June 19 to July 20. It featured six officially invited teams and six teams selected through open qualifiers. Many of these teams were already well-known, such as Lei Yi and his FL.CN team, who had been playing since the closed beta; Bo Bo, known as "Bodao," and his NOVA team; and Mo Lan, a former Overwatch pro, leading the OUG team.
After two stages of regular season matches and a double-elimination playoff bracket, the OUG team successfully won the championship among these 12 teams. They will join the NOVA team in the upcoming Global Mid-Season Championship finals, competing for a share of the $500,000 prize pool.
The Mid-Season Championship offline finals will be held in Guangzhou from August 6 to August 10. In addition to the two teams from the Chinese region, veteran esports powerhouses such as SEN, 100T, and ENVY from the Americas region, and RC and GENG from the Asia region, will participate, along with CTG.BR, RAD, and GZ from the other two regions.
The hosting of a global esports tournament spanning multiple regions worldwide undoubtedly demonstrates that the young Marvel Rivals is steadily increasing its global influence. As the esports scene continues to advance and mature, Marvel Rivals will, like many established IPs before it, gradually become a shared generational memory for players around the world.
Whether it was the Marvel theme, which was previously less familiar to many, or the hero shooter genre, which was relatively unfamiliar to domestic developers, many players had certain concerns about Marvel Rivals before its full reveal. However, Marvel Rivals successfully dispelled these doubts with its excellent game content and comprehensive operational planning.
Not only has it proven itself in the more than half a year since its launch, but it also carries the banner of Chinese games, continuously spreading its brand influence worldwide.
We believe that in the near future, we will see Marvel Rivals and its esports scene become the next major global gaming event.
