The upcoming Chinese New Year event for NetEase Games' popular hero shooter "Marvel Rivals" is set to bring new skins, a new mode, and many more.
It is also worth noting that a lot of players are comparing the upcoming event's content with "Overwatch," given how similar they are. The event is called The Spring Festival and is scheduled to start on Jan. 23, 2025.
Marvel Rivals' Chinese New Year Event
It would introduce a new limited-time mode that is essentially Rocket League but without the cars. The mode is known as Clash of Dancing Lions that will take place in a massive arena that has goals on either end.
Participating teams will pass a ball around and are tasked with scoring goals using Black Widow, Iron Fist, and Star-Lord. All of the heroes involved in the new limited-time mode will be wearing dancing lion skins.
This particular game mode is being compared to "Overwatch" due to the latter's Lucioball mode, which is basically the same and has existed since the first Summer Games in 2016.
It also seems like "Marvel Rivals" is giving its heroes dancing lion MVP animations, according to Polygon.
This is also similar to what "Overwatch" did with its own set of characters during its own Chinese New Year events.
While neither game was responsible for the inspirations themselves, the similarity has had people doing a double-take to make sure they were not the same game.
New Skins and a Limited-Time Game Mode
On the other hand, "Overwatch" is planning to go much bigger in 2025 with its Lunar New Year celebration as it is coming back to China on Feb. 19, 2025.
Game director Aaron Keller announced in a post last week a ton of cosmetics that are coming back and Chinese mythology-themed skins arriving next season.
The Chinese New Year event for "Marvel Rivals" comes after the developers previously revealed that they plan to add a new hero to the game every six weeks.
This suggests that fans can expect the mid-Season 1 update to come in a few weeks and bring the Human Torch and The Thing, The Direct said.
A lot of updates for NetEase Games' "Marvel Rivals" in the past included server downtime and a lot of players expect the Chinese New Year one to be the same. However, this has not yet been confirmed by the studio.
NetEase Games has also confirmed that the Star-Lord dancing lion skin will be free for players to earn during the Chinese New Year event. This would most likely be through various missions, according to Esports Illustrated.
