Players have blasted NetEase for a perceived lack of moderation across Marvel Rival lobbies.
“Forget about loser queue, I want to get out of racist queue,” wrote redditor Murkwan on the official Marvel Rivals subreddit. The post has since been locked and deleted, but not before securing 1400 likes and almost 500 comments, the majority of which agreed with the OP.
Whilst many players seem to get grief merely for playing certain characters (primarily Jeff the Landshark), others say they regularly hear racist and sexist slurs, but “haven’t gotten a ban notification for weeks” even when they report offending players (thanks, TheGamer).
“The problem is that this takes a toll on you,” explained one player, responding to a suggestion that players should “mute, report, block” and move on.
“As a woman, I don’t use mic unless with my friends. If I speak with random teammates I’ll always get some insult or disgusting comment. I just ignore, report and block, but it’s not nice at all. It’s not like ‘haha what a loser’. First time maybe. The third game you hear something like that you just want to stop playing even if you love the game.
“So in cases of racism, it’s the same,” they added. “Yeah, ignore those losers, but reading or hearing insults over and over again makes you really want to not play anymore.”
“I’m sick of people telling women what they need to do to counter the harassment they’re experiencing like that’s their job,” added another respondent. “That’s just the digital version of telling women not to dress some specific way or they’re ‘asking for it’.”
Black players also contributed to the thread, with many admitting “comms stay off with randoms” completely, even in ranked play.
Other players have taken to X/Twitter, with this commenter writing: “Seriously?? MarvelRivals, wheres the moderation??” asked one player, including a screenshot of a grossly antisemetic username. “Big fan of the game but seeing this mid game is gross.”
“Its even worse [because] I can’t leave the match without being penalised and having my own gameplay experience suffer, so I just have to play with this person,” they added.
“When you think about it, it’s even weirder when it’s in a Marvel game,” said u/fistfightcrash.
“Stan Lee was pretty clear that what the X-men was originally about was the civil rights movement. This is a Stan Lee quote from the 60s:
‘Let’s lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. It’s totally irrational, patently insane to condemn an entire race.’
“If you’re racist, how could you possibly think this is your space?” they concluded. “Unless you’re real old, Marvel was probably vocally anti-racist before you were born.”
We’ve reached out to NetEase for comment.
Last month, NetEase cut jobs at its US-based Marvel Rivals creative team, despite the game’s significant success, claiming the decision was made to “optimise development efficiency”. It also insisted it “has not wavered in its global expansion plans” amid reports it’s unloading “as much as all” of its overseas game companies due to rising costs.