Here’s a frustrating reality if you’re a Nintendo Switch 2 owner,Marvel Rivalsis arguably one of the hottest games of the year. You can argue that it’s theOverwatchkiller, but the reality is you can’t play it.
The good news is that it’s inching closer to coming to the Switch 2. The bad news? That’s only if NetEase can ever get their hands on a dev kit.
Marvel Rivals VS Overwatch: Which Game Is Better?
Which co-op hero shooter reigns supreme?
In a recent interview,Marvel Rivals Game Director, Guangyun Chen confirmed that despite their team’s interest in getting their game ported over to the Switch 2, they’re still “in the process of obtaining the development machine"and don’t have the access to the hardware they need.
So what’s the hold-up? And more importantly, how are you going to play as Spider-Man or Black Panther on this console?
Dev Kit Drama
The situation is frustratingly simple. NetEase wants to bring Marvel Rivals to the Switch 2.Nintendo has not given NetEase a dev kit to port their game.
This isn’t a new problem. Back in April, indie devs were already complaining about Nintendo’s stingy approach to distribution of their dev kits.
We get it, and we all know that Nintendo guards their proprietary tech like Fort Knox with lawsuits at the ready, but I can also argue that Marvel Rivals isn’t some indie project. It’s rapidly becoming an Esports titan and Nintendo’s dev kit holdout is slowing down and blocking millions of potential players from the game.
Why Marvel Rivals Isn’t Available on the Original Switch
Before we get too excited about a potential Switch 2 port, it might be worth taking a moment to understand why Marvel Rivals never came to the Switch 1. Back in February, Weicong Wu, producer of Marvel Rivals had this to say:
The reason why we didn’t launch it onto the Switch, it was the first generation of that device, they cannot provide a great experience for our gameplay.
It does make perfect sense when you think about it. Marvel Rivals is a much more demanding game than Overwatch. It runs on a newer version of Unreal Engine 5, sothe original Switch, as much as we love it, was already showing its age when Marvel Rivals launched.
Personally, I doubt it would’ve maintained a decent FPS to begin with even if it was possible to run the game.
NetEase to Probe Switch 2 Hardware Before Porting
Dev kit drama aside, what’s encouraging is that NetEase hasn’t given up. However, they’ve also made it clear that even when they finally get those dev kits, we’re looking at months of development time.Porting a gametakes a ridiculously long time and even if a ported game is released, there’s usually a week or two of patching time before a game is fully optimized for the gaming majority.
Now, there’s no doubt that the Switch 2 should be powerful enough to run Marvel Rivals, especially since the game already runs on other handheld devices like the Steam Deck. From the looks of it though, we might be looking at late 2025 or early next year for Marvel Rivals to become available on the Switch 2. It’s just sad that the only thing preventing a game to be played on a platform is nothing more than bureaucracy.
All that said, if you’re itching toplay this hero-shooter, Marvel Rivals is currently available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. There’s already a ton of content andthe game is about to start Season 3 on July 11. If you’re a new player, it’s a good time to jump in, since there are already a lot of heroes available in the game, and the latest to arrive is the Phoenix, Jean Grey, who will be available at the start of the new season.
NetEase Conducted “Exhaustive Research” For Marvel Rivals' Hero Abilities
The Marvel Rivals devs conducted weekly checks with Marvel’s team to ensure authenticity for each character was kept.
