Chinese video game development and publishing studio NetEase (NTES) scored a win today with the launch of Marvel Rivals. This is the company’s newest free-to-play hero shooter that allows gamers to pick characters from Disney’s (DIS) Marvel universe and compete against each other online. It launched at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday and has reached a peak total player count of 444,286 on Steam as of this writing. That’s enough to secure the number three spot on Steam’s store page.
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To put that player count in perspective, Marvel Rivals has the fourth-highest 24-hour peak numbers behind Dota 2 at 615,341, PUBG: Battlegrounds at 766,696, and Counter-Strike 2 at 1,466,462. There’s also plenty of room for Marvel Rivals to grow, with its peak being reached on a Thursday night. When the weekend hits, the game is likely to reach a new peak player count as gamers get off work for the week.
Adding to this is interest in Marvel Rivals on the video streaming platform Twitch. The game hit a peak viewer count of 238,088 during its launch and currently has about 97,000. That places it alongside industry giants Fortnite, League of Legends, and Microsoft-owned (MSFT) Blizzard’s World of Warcraft.
Marvel Rivals vs. Overwatch 2
Marvel Rivals is also handily beating out Blizzard’s Overwatch 2, its closest rival in the hero shooter genre. Waning interest in Overwatch 2 has left it with a peak 24-hour player count of 38,349 on Steam and a peak 24-hour viewer count of 31,349 on Twitch. Granted, Marvel Rivals could see its numbers drop in the months to follow as its player base stabilizes.
No matter the case, NTES investors are celebrating the successful launch of Marvel Rivals today. The company’s shares are up 1.56% as of this writing. This could be the start of a much-needed rebound as the stock is up only 1% year-to-date and 10.12% over the last 12 months.
Is NTES Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for NetEase is Strong Buy based on seven Buy and one Hold ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average price target of $114.06, a high of $125.50, and a low of $82. This represents a potential upside of 26.23% for NTES shares.
