What just happened with Marvel Rivals‘ Doctor Strange skin might be the best example of developer responses I’ve seen in years. This whole situation perfectly illustrates why NetEase is running circles around companies like Blizzard right now. The Zombie Strange skin dropped after months of hype and leaks, and it wasn’t exactly what players had been promised. It launched half-baked and left the community asking, asking: “What is this?”
The fans turned from excited to confused to straight-up angry. The skin looked flat, lifeless (ironic for a zombie), and was missing several key visual elements shown in promotional materials. But instead of digging in their heels or offering some vague “we’re monitoring the situation” corporate-speak, NetEase actually did something about it, and fast, and it’s the devs’ response that puts Blizzard to shame.
NetEase Listened to Fans and Fixed the Doctor Strange Skin
After a flood of community backlash, NetEase has overhauled the Zombie Strange skin. The once-confusing, underwhelming cosmetic is turned into something worthy of its creepy, undead theme. The zombie hands that were supposed to crackle around Strange’s torso are there now, all the time, just like the store preview promised.
The update also introduced a brand-new distorted voice effect that cranks the skin’s creep factor up to 11. Players like RedEyesGoldDragon are calling it “absolutely peak,” and I agree. It’s rare to see a developer go this far to course-correct a cosmetic, and the result comes out as a legit win for the community. Sure, the voice effect is client-side means only the player wearing it hears it, but it’s still something great we don’t see often in live-service games.
Meanwhile, Blizzard Hears and Does Nothing
If Blizzard had launched a skin like this in Overwatch 2, we’d probably still be waiting for a fix six months later. Or worse, get a “we hear you” post that ends in absolutely no changes, which means the result will be, “but we’re going to do what we planned anyway.” That’s what makes NetEase beat the other studios. They not only listen but they act, and players notice.
One Redditor, RediJedi4021, put it best: “Now I’m more willing to buy the skin. I’m more likely to monetarily support a company that listens to the community. This is huge.” That’s the goodwill you can’t buy with a flashy trailer or a battle pass, it comes from showing players they matter– respect your players’ feedback, and they’ll respect your monetization.
And this wasn’t all as another long-requested tweak went live recently too. Thor’s Rune King skin has also undergone a big cape reduction. It’s another quality-of-life improvement that shows NetEase is paying attention to feedback across the board. Players can now see what they’re doing in team fights instead of staring at a wall of digital fabric.
At the end of the day, this is exactly why Marvel Rivals is so successful in the limited time since its release while other hero shooters are stagnating. How the developers treat the community is a big factor. We have seen too many promising hero shooters crash and burn in the past; this kind of responsive development is what builds lasting communities.
NetEase isn’t perfect, but they’re delivering something that Blizzard seems to have forgotten along the way because sometimes, you simply need to admit when you’ve done wrong and fix it. Marvel Rivals’ team is proving time and again that they’re willing to listen, adjust, and admit when they’ve missed the mark. That kind of responsiveness is rare in this space, and it’s exactly why the game has built such a loyal player base so quickly.
