Marvel Rivals is coming to the PS4
By opening the game up to millions of players who have not yet upgraded to PS5, NetEase is buying itself another shot at keeping the community alive.
Free-to-play games live and die by their player counts. If people stop logging in, the whole system collapses, especially when revenue is tied to selling cosmetics and battle passes. That is the situation Marvel Rivals seems to be facing.
The game was launched in December 2024 on PC and current-gen consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. But after peaking at more than 640,000 concurrent players on Steam earlier this year, the number has since dropped dramatically, with the game now struggling to reach 100,000. In response, developer NetEase has decided to widen the net.
The studio announced that Marvel Rivals is coming to PlayStation 4 on September 12, right as the game’s next season kicks off. On paper, the move makes sense. The PS4 may be over a decade old, but it still has a massive active user base.
By opening the game up to millions of players who have not yet upgraded to PS5, NetEase is essentially buying itself another shot at keeping the community alive. It is also a proven strategy. Games like Fortnite and Call of Duty maintained huge player pools for years by supporting both old and new consoles.
What is surprising, though, is that while Marvel Rivals is headed to PS4, there is no Xbox One version in sight. Since both consoles are part of the same generation, many expected NetEase to bring the game to Microsoft’s older system as well.
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The PS4 release does raise another big question: how well can a twelve-year-old console actually run a fast-paced, hero-shooter built for modern hardware? According to NetEase, performance on PS4 has already been tested and confirmed.
The studio says the game will run at 30 frames per second on 1080p resolution on the base PS4 model. Meanwhile, on the more powerful PS4 Pro model, the game will run at a stable 60 frames per second on 1440p resolution.
Of course, the PS4 port is only part of the story. Marvel Rivals is also rolling out its next big seasonal update this September, which means new characters, fresh content, and the kind of balance changes every live-service game needs to stay relevant. NetEase is clearly trying to stop the bleeding and rekindle its player base before interest dips further.
The road ahead is not easy. Overwatch already dominates the hero-shooter space and has had the advantage of broader platform support from the beginning. Still, adding PS4 players could give Marvel Rivals the boost it needs. Whether that boost is enough to turn things around is another story entirely.
