Overwatch 2 is considered to be the biggest hero shooter multiplayer franchise right now. After the release of Marvel Rivals, there’ve been several online discussions about whether MR will be the game that eventually kills OW2.
Despite having the more popular IP and a solid launch, Marvel Rivals has yet to beat Overwatch when it comes to one major factor—fanmade erotica.
Can Marvel Rivals Out-Horny Overwatch?
Though Overwatch is a solid game on its own that’s been developed over several years, one major factor that the industry thinks is responsible for the brand’s longevity is the overwhelming quantity and quality of fanmade porn that the game has been able to generate.
With Marvel Rivals releasing the new Malice skin for Invisible Woman, a lot of fans have realized that there now seems to be an unofficial bid at the gooner (the internet’s new word for porn addict) market by Rivals. It’s not like they haven’t been trying with other characters like Luna Snow, Squirrel Girl, and Psylocke.
And before anyone can complain that only the misogynists are having a ball with the lady characters in the game, there have been fairly a lot of edits of the men as well. Besides Invisible Woman getting the gooner spotlight, her fellow new hero, Mr. Fantastic, has also been subject to very suggestive edits:
…And this is one of the more tamer pieces of fanart online.
Where Overwatch Could Win
Sure, the characters for Marvel Rivals are more popular, but Overwatch fan artists may benefit from Blizzard's lax attitude toward the fanmade smut that’s come out online. Back when Overwatch came out in 2016, game director Jeff Kaplan was asked by Kotaku about the steadily rising number of OW porn that was coming out online, to which he replied:
“When that crosses into the porn scene, I just feel like that’s an inevitable reality of the internet in 2016, and there’s a lot of freedom of expression that people want to pursue on their own time.”
Disney, though, is known to be very protective of its brand. When online artists start making money off of their Marvel Rivals erotica, Disney may have the power to send out cease-and-desist orders faster than anyone can type “Squirrel Girl Rule 34” into their search bars.
Were They Planning This?
Then again, some people think that the overall design of the characters in both Overwatch and Marvel Rivals was ‘meant to be good over,’ as all the character models seem to have a very specific type, from being conventionally attractive to having art styles that are easier to replicate.
Just like how some people are convinced that Overwatch smut helped keep the game relevant, NetEase could be hoping that this amount of Marvel Rivals porn could help promote the characters and give them ideas on who to give more cosmetics to down the line. They’ve already been more daring regarding skins than Overwatch, so why stop something that would inevitably happen?
Marvel Rivals is now available for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. Overwatch 2 is now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4|5, and PC.