Marvel Rivals Monetisation Strategy Has Been Revealed, And It’s Oddly Reasonable

Via a Dev Diary on the main Marvel Rivals website, the folks behind the title have lifted the curtain on how the F2P Super Hero Team-Based PVP Shooter aims to sustain itself in the post-release.

With all heroes unlocked for free, many thought that the devil had to be in the details – with scary or scummy practices reaching greedily for your wallet.

But to the surprise of many, the monetization for Marvel Rivals seems quite reasonable. Generous, even.

🤓The Dev Team is back with our final discussion before launch!

We break down all of the details about monetization and how players can acquire their favorite cosmetic goodies.

Read the full blog here>>https://t.co/AO7T60t1ED#MarvelRivals #Marvel #MarvelGames pic.twitter.com/L4UHeEr2pd

— Marvel Rivals (@MarvelRivals) December 4, 2024

As part of an emerging trend of people sick of ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out) tactics within game stores and battle passes, developer NetEase Games confirms that the battle passes within Rivals do not expire – once purchased, you can progress them at your leisure regardless of current game season or patch. And for roughly a fiver (via the estimated USD cost mentioned) they contain 16x their base purchase value, including costumes, cosmetics and currency.

They also detail that their intended shop bundles are reasonably priced and include far more than just a skin – via the blog, they explained that a standard bundle will include:

• A costume
• MVP animation
• Emote
• Spray
• Nameplate

With the below example given of what you should expect of these goodies:

OH MY GOD JEFFFFFF pic.twitter.com/zXQnv2N9jx

— ❄️Willow❄️ (@Captain_Phyco) December 4, 2024

While regional pricing hasn’t really been explained, some quick US-based details mention:

• LATTICE (gold currency) is the premium currency, obtained via purchasing
• Standard Price: USD $0.99 = 100 LATTICE
• Top-Tier Price: USD $99.99 = 11,680 LATTICE

So 100 premium currency is expected to approach around $1.55 AUD. They then mention that:

• Standard Epic-Quality Bundle: 1,600 UNITS (Standard value: 2,200 UNITS, -28% discount)

So via napkin math, you could expect yourself to pick up the adorably cute Jeff bundle shown above for maybe $25 AUD. Considering that the closest comparison for such expenditure is Overwatch 2, which has historically offered a single skin at that price range – it’s a pretty nice standard to set.

Then there is the breakdown of how not-paid currency works – known as Units.

• UNITS (blue currency) can be exchanged at a 1:1 ratio using LATTICE. Additionally, UNITS can be earned for free in limited quantities via the Battle Pass, Achievements, and Events.

As detailed above, This blue currency can be earned by playing and then used to purchase bundles – with a 1:1 conversion rate between purchased funbux and the free ones. So there is a ton of opportunity to get fun goodies simply by playing.

Considering the community response of late to live service games and their post release demands, it’s refreshing to see that the next big ticket title to try their hand at the strategy is doing so with a hefty amount of understanding of what people can afford. If Marvel Rivals is successful in this deployment, we could also cross fingers and hope for a disruption to the current trend of online eCommerce offerings, perhaps trending things back to a point where the ‘micro’ in ‘microtransaction’ didn’t elicit a cynical snort. It’s cool to see.

Marvel Rivals will release on 6 December 2024, so if you are keen to get involved keep an eye out for that preload and start thinking about who you want to take into battle.

How do you feel about the shop strategy being used by Marvel Rivals? Is it a positive spin on how games have been approaching their in game purchased recently? Tell us all about it in the comments or on our social media.