While recently grinding ranked in Marvel Rivals, you might have noticed something off. Some players don’t only play badly, but they throw on purpose, and apparently get paid to do it.
The competitive integrity of Marvel Rivals is under fire, and NetEase won’t play around. In a direct response to a bizarre new trend of “incentivized throwing,” the development team has issued a warning on X: if you’re caught sabotaging matches for external rewards, your account will face strict penalties, including a permanent ban.
Dear Rivals,
We have recently identified a disturbing trend within our community: “incentivized throwing,” where players are enticed by third-party bounties to deliberately sabotage matches. This behavior not only undermines the integrity of our game but also tarnishes the…
— Marvel Rivals (@MarvelRivals) March 5, 2026
Most of us get into ranked to climb the ladder, but a segment of the community has been doing the exact opposite. A third-party platform called Intlist recently surfaced with a bounty system in which users can put a price on the heads of known griefers. But it’s created a toxic economy where players are being paid to ruin games. It’s griefing-for-hire, and has spread a lot into ranked lobbies.
“We’re happy to see game developers taking a stronger stance on a problem the community has cared deeply about,” Intlist said in a tweet following the warning.
The site was co-founded by EchoRivals, a former pro who has been vocal about developers not doing enough to punish repeat griefers. The pitch was supposed to be community driven accountability to retaliate against disruptive players. What it actually created was a financial motive for people to throw matches for anyone willing to put up a bounty.
I believe retaliatory griefing is a slippery slope that never works. By trying to punish one bad actor, these bounties create five more. It turns a 6v6 hero shooter into a chaotic mess where teammates are more interested in collecting money than securing the objective.
The situation revives a familiar problem in competitive multiplayer games, where people throw matches or go AFK for personal gains, the same trash behavior you see with rank manipulation or boosting. But now there’s a real outside payoff, players have even more reason to ruin the game for everyone else.
NetEase said its enforcement policies already prohibit these actions and stressed that any form of malicious disruption falls under its zero tolerance rules. The company also confirmed it has strengthened penalties for negative gameplay, including intentionally losing matches or repeatedly going AFK.
Under the updated enforcement approach, player reports will play a crucial role. The studio encouraged users who encounter suspicious behavior to submit reports through the in-game system so moderators can review match data and take action when necessary.
Here’s the breakdown of the new enforcement strategy:
- Permanent Bans: If you are verified as throwing for a bounty, you will risk losing your account and all its progress permanently.
- Enhanced Detection: The devs have improved their tracking for malicious idling (AFK) and intentional feeding.
- Manual Verification: While the system is automated to an extent, NetEase is committing a dedicated team to manually review reports linked to these external “hit lists.”
The logic behind platforms like Intlist that the devs “don’t do enough,” so the community should take over, is fundamentally flawed. It bypasses the standard reporting system and replaces it with vigilante justice that’s easy to exploit. Rather than fixing the community, it incentivizes more people to play poorly for a quick buck or a bit of clout.
From a competitive angle, Marvel Rivals had to act. Once players realize they can rig matches for some reward, the whole ranked system falls apart. Competitive shooters live or die on the integrity of the ladder, and if the players don’t trust the scoreboard, they’ll quit. It’s a smart play to nip any sabotage in the bud before it kills the game’s momentum.
