Marvel Rivals Dev Apologizes for Mistakenly Banning Players for Using Cheats

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Marvel Rivals developer NetEase has issued an apology to disgruntled players who it unfairly banned for cheating.


In a post on Discord, NetEase admitted it had mistakenly flagged as cheaters some who were playing in compatibility layer programs, even though they were not using cheating software. This, unfortunately, resulted in false bans, although NetEase failed to say how many.

“We sincerely apologize for this situation and want to assure you that we do not and will not ban players who are playing fairly and without cheating,” NetEase said.

The developer said it had made a list of affected players and lifted their bans. “We have identified the specific reasons behind these false bans and have compiled a list of affected players,” it said. “We have lifted these bans and want to express our heartfelt apologies for the inconvenience this has caused.”

NetEase went on to insist it is investing in improving its anti-cheat, and called on players to report cheaters if they encounter them. Here’s the rest of the statement in full:

Our mission is to provide all players with a fair, just, and enjoyable gaming environment. Therefore, preventing and identifying cheaters is one of our top priorities. We have invested significant manpower and resources to improve the speed and accuracy of our detection systems. With any ongoing detection system, there is always room for improvement. We appreciate your assistance in helping us tackle this challenge. If you encounter any cheating behavior, please report it immediately; our reporting system will respond promptly. If you believe you have been wrongly banned, you can appeal to our customer support team, and we will review your case and respond in a timely manner. You can reach the support team via either in-game or in Discord!

Thank you for your understanding and support!

The news comes ahead of Marvel Rivals Season 1 and the arrival of Fantastic Four playable characters, teased with a first-look image and set for a trailer of their own next week.


Marvel Rivals is a smash hit for NetEase, securing 10 million players in just three days and 20 million in two weeks. The free-to-play superhero team-based PvP shooter launched on December 6 across PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S, and while Sony and Microsoft do not make player numbers public, Steam makes Valve stats available.

On Steam, Marvel Rivals peaked over its launch weekend with 480,990 concurrent players, which was enough to put it in the top five most-played games on Valve's platform. It’s the 20th highest concurrent player number ever seen on Steam, ahead of the likes of Helldivers 2, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Destiny 2.

Marvel Rivals launched with Season 0, with Season 1 set for January 9 according to the in-game battle pass countdown timer. Check out IGN’s Marvel Rivals Review to find out what we think. And keep an eye on the latest Marvel Rivals codes for free skins, and vote on the strongest Marvel Rivals characters in our community tier list.


Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].