Marvel Rivals LAUNCH :: "Marvel Rivals Release Arc"
Marvel Rivals - NEW Super Hero Team Shooter!
Marvel Rivals Release Era was an interesting moment!
After our incredible strides in the Closed Alpha Test (Click Here to read that article), I initially was really committed to the game's release.
I knew I was going to have to work really hard to make an impact on Marvel Rivals but lacked the forsight to see what would actually happen. The game was a MASSIVE SUCCESS on release seeing a massive player count & viewership that allowed it to solidify itself into the market. It made me really happy to be part of such a big game on it's release, I figured things would work out like how they did initially with MHUR for me where my longevitity of commitment being part of the game & it's community since the closed alpha's would put me in the spotlight to be one of the rising stars of the game.
Unfortunately, I was naive to think this, despite the game's massive success reality set in very quick on my status with the game going forward. I will go over that towards the end of this article but first I will talk about the positives & great moments we had with this game on release.
With the Release Trailer came a lot of hype for the game's release.
They had updated their website @ MarvelRivals.com & discord with news every single day & it was really well done by the development team. This development team is one of the greatest ones I have ever seen in the current market of gaming. It is something I will always talk highly about.
Being part of the Marvel Rivals Creator program has been an incredible experience & I think they are doing an amazing job with building this game!
(Re)Re-Cap on Becoming an Official Marvel Rivals Content Creator
After making some efforts to be noticed for the Marvel CC Program I received a notification that I was accepted into the Program! This was the biggest opportunity ever given to me as it opened an avenue to many things.
The Closed Alpha test was one of the most incredible moments of time in my twitch career as we broke records and pushed beyond boundaries in streaming that I didn't think was possible. It showed me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel if I work hard enough to get the results I seek.
The next couple playtests went decent but foreshadowed my future as a creator in this game, I just wasn't what the community wanted.
Marvel Rivals Season 0 - Day1 December 2024
Release Day1 was a really exciting day! We got to showcase the game & make a really strong start with the game! It at first felt like an incredible moment to cement ourselves into the mainstream audience.
Marvel Rivals Season 0 - Week1 December 2024
Week1 of Marvel Rivals Release was honestly a really intense week! We got to showcase the game, all of its features and learn how to play! It really felt like we were part of a new generation of gaming! The game had so much to offer and was well received to have an amazing start to it's life.
To keep this blog mostly positive, I'll just say that we had a solid start learning the game, playing quick play then trying out ranked when it released. We started out Top 99.66% with a really strong win rate. Things were looking decent.
Marvel Rivals Season 0 - December 2024
After our 1st week streaming the game, I noticed a huge shift on my channel, where a lot of my old audience no longer came by & it was some new people instead. That's when I realized things were not playing out how I initially envisioned.
Marvel Rivals being built off the Overwatch Game-state & Community caused a massive shift where a lot of my community moved on to watching Veteran Overwatch Streamers & New Pro Marvel Rivals Players.
I started to become discouraged with my endeavors. I did ranked and nearly hit Top500 peaking at 99.8% of players GM2 but I could still feel the gap in lack of knowledge & experience to push to the epsilon necessary to make a true impact on the game. I took a lot of time off streaming to try to focus more on being a player so when I came back it would be enough to make a huge break onto the scene. It was at this time I saw how the community has shifted to a more competitive focus, with a very clout-established bias & started to get the same feelings I got with Fortnite toward Marvel Rivals. I just simply wasn't fit for a mainstream audience and was always overlooked which lead to me phasing away from focusing on the game.
I also want to note that this type of game can become incredibly toxic in the competitive environment, with massive egos based on flawed ideologies lacking proper perspective. I didn't enjoy it as the culture of these kind of games would rather put players down then to educate and improve their peers to perform better. It's also very toxic towards women & LGBT+ folk like myself. I just couldn't enable these types of people to be around me, even if the report system is really good & players got banned. The experiences still linger in my thoughts and overtake the positive experiences due to how impactful these negative experiences were. I have NEVER had players talk to me in the way I have been talked to in OW & now Marvel Rivals and it's something I just can't lower myself to allowing these types of people to be around.
I want to finish by saying I really do love some aspects of Marvel Rivals a lot and appreciate the journey it put me on. It gave me a new breath of life during a time where I thought things were over for me. I love comic stuff, hero vs villain stories & MCU stuff + Third Person shooters which really is the part of the game that resonates with me. I will always have respect for this game, it's incredible development team & what it stands for in the current generation of gaming. Some aspects may of effected how I wanted to go about the game as a content creator & really involved player but it did give me things that I appreciate.
Marvel Rivals Season 1 - Q1 2025
The game got a big update with the Fantastic Four joining the game & lots of new things added to the game. One thing I really want to highlight is how responsive to the community & well the developers are with handling their game's maintenance and additions.
After seeing a major shift in my channel I started to dial back toward focusing on Community engagement content with doing Marvel Rivals Community Games on Sundays. These days would be fun moments where I would play with viewers & friends in Quickplay for practice & playing purely for the fun of the game. This made the experience playing the game MUCH more enjoyable and allowed a new avenue for us to navigate in purely playing the game for it being a fun game.
I phased away from ranked content and started to only do Community Games, while simultaneously setting myself for a transition back into Variety Content (which will be covered in our next article. It ended up changing things for the better & we saw a massive resurgence on my channels activity).
These experiences were really a great time that allowed me to reconnect with the game & my community in a way that took a lot of that mainstream pressure off of me and allowed me to really enjoy the game how it's intended.
We still play Marvel Rivals a bit mostly with doing a weekly Community Game night on sundays & will go with the flow with this game going forward.
Now that Season1 comes to a close, Marvel Rivals Release Arc is concluded! We had many eye-opening moments during this arc & it was a lesson that showed me to forge my own path instead of following in the footsteps of others! Thank you so much for being part of it!
What happened leading up to release?
Make sure to check the 2-part blog of our Variety Transition Arc here: We did various shooters, talked about getting into YouTube with NEW Gaming Videos & getting into VR Games.
Part1: Q2-Q4 2024
Part2: Q4 2024
What happened after Marvel Rivals' release?
We are now a Variety Content focus with new games/playtests, VR Content & visiting old games of nostalgia to me! Learn about it in our next blog coming soon!
Thank you all so much! I tried my best with Marvel Rivals and it unfortunately didn't work out as my next big game. I am extremely grateful for this game giving me a new start in being a content creator & changing my path to being who I was meant to be. I am excited for the new Variety Content that I have been doing & seeing a lot of success doing it. I have a feeling I am on the right path towards my destiny. Looking forward to what the future has for us, I don't know what's next but I'm going with the flow & finding my way in gaming again.
~ Kairi Caitlyn
