Marvel Rivals, a free-to-play hero shooter developed by NetEase (NTES) and featuring characters from Disney’s (DIS) Marvel franchise, is getting ready to enter Season 1. Players are currently in Season 0 as the game launched earlier than expected. However, its player base is already incredibly strong and will likely continue to grow.
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Marvel Rivals Season 0 ends on Jan. 10, which is likely when Season 1 will launch. The game hit an all-time high concurrent player count of 480,990 on Steam shortly after its launch. Since then, the game’s Steam player count has peaked at close to 400,000 every 24 hours. That shows fans aren’t growing tired of the game roughly one month after its release.
When Marvel Rivals Season 0 ends and Season 1 begins, the player count might increase. That would make sense as the new season offers a more fleshed-out battle pass with extra rewards. The Season 0 battle pass is limited to only one month compared to three for normal battle passes.
What This Means for NetEase
Season 1 will bring with it new characters, costumes, emotes, and a new battle pass. NetEase benefits from this as it generates revenue from Marvel Rivals through cosmetic and battle pass purchases. NTES stock jumped shortly after the game’s launch, but couldn’t maintain its momentum through December. However, that may have been tied to overall market trends, rather than an issue with NetEase.
The Season 1 battle pass will also double in price from the Season 0 battle pass. That’s because the Season 0 battle pass contains roughly half the content as the upcoming Season 1 battle pass. This could draw in more players while increasing revenue from Marvel Rivals.
NetEase also plans to bring loads of new characters to the game in Season 1, and with them come new cosmetics for players to purchase. The members of the Fantastic Four have been leaked as releasing in Season 1, with other leaks suggesting Ultron and Blade will also be added during that season. Gamers have also learned that these are only half of the leaked characters NetEase is developing for Marvel Rivals. However, it’s unknown if any others will be added in Season 1.
Is NTES Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for NetEase is Strong Buy based on eight Buy and one Hold ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average price target of $113.06, a high of $125.50, and a low of $82. This represents a potential 27.49% upside for NTES shares.