Call of Duty's current state might have been a bliss for Marvel Rivals, here's why

Marvel Rivals has quickly become a favorite among the gaming community, offering engaging gameplay and allowing players a chance to play as their favorite Marvel characters. In less than a month, the game's Season 0 Doom's Rise gained over 20 million players worldwide. In contrast, Activision is facing challenges, with Call of Duty seeing a significant drop in the playerbase.

This article will discuss the problems Call of Duty players are facing and why a lot of players are switching to NetEase Games' new Marvel-themed hero shooter.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinion.

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Marvel Rivals thrives amid Call of Duty's ongoing challenges

FaZe Swagg, a prominent COD streamer, expressed his frustration recently with the game's current state citing matchmaking issues. He shared a post on X, expressing his positive experience with Rivals:

" Warzone is worst this week than last week. Cant even Que into games. Marvel Rivals was mad fun today, played like 7 hours of it."

In the end, Swagg also added that if no update arrives in Call of Duty, he will continue playing Marvel Rivals' ranked mode where he mains Punisher, a popular Duelist class hero.

Black Ops 6's active player count is decreasing every day and the community is debating about BO6 having the worst Warzone experience. Furthermore, the increasing number of hackers in Black Ops 6's ranked mode is also frustrating the community.

The community is also unhappy about the fact that Activision is more focused on publishing new skin bundles such as the Squid Game 2 collaboration, while failing to officially address the ongoing cheating crisis.

Nadeshot also voiced his concerns about Black Ops 6 recently, criticizing the title over the increasing number of cheaters, poor server performance, and broken gameplay that makes the game frustrating. Meanwhile, TimTheTatman, who was the third most viewed Call of Duty streamer in the world in 2024, has joined the growing list of streamers exploring Marvel Rivals.

Since its release on December 6, 2025, Marvel Rivals has consistently stayed among the top games on Steam Charts, showcasing its popularity and success among gamers worldwide. Meanwhile, it's not only Call of Duty that seems to be struggling; other games like Overwatch 2 and Deadlock have also seen a noticeable decline in player engagement.

For Call of Duty, these challenges are a wake-up call. While the franchise has a dedicated fan base, consistent issues could drive the players away. Without significant improvements, the game risks losing more of its audience.

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