Marvel Rivals Developer, NetEase, Issues Apology for Wrongful Bans

NetEase, the developer behind Marvel Rivals, recently issued a public apology for mistakenly banning a significant number of innocent players. The incident occurred during a crackdown on cheaters, where several non-Windows users were incorrectly flagged.

Mac, Linux, and Steam Deck Users Affected

The erroneous bans primarily impacted players using compatibility layers like those found on macOS, Linux systems, and the Steam Deck. On January 3rd, community manager James announced on the official Discord server that compatibility software had been mistakenly identified as cheating software. NetEase has since reversed the bans and apologized for the inconvenience. Players experiencing future issues with cheaters are encouraged to report them, and those wrongly banned can appeal through in-game support or Discord. The Steam Deck's Proton compatibility layer has a history of triggering anti-cheat systems.

Calls for Universal Character Bans

Separately, the Marvel Rivals community is advocating for a change to the game's character ban system. Currently, character bans—a feature allowing players to remove specific characters from selection—are only available at Diamond rank and above. Many players, particularly those in lower ranks, feel this is unfair and limits strategic gameplay. Reddit users have expressed frustration, highlighting the imbalance created by the limited availability of this feature. They argue that implementing character bans across all ranks would improve the game's balance and provide a more enjoyable experience for all players. NetEase has yet to respond to this feedback.