When Blizzard Entertainment had Overwatch first played to the general public at Gamescom 2015, I queued up with a swarm of attendees and waited for hours to get my hands on the game. I liked what I played. So much so, in fact, that I played quite a bit of the game when it was first released. And since then I have been craving for a similar Hero Shooter. Marvel Rivals more or less scratched that itch with its 6v6 formula and lack of Role Queue reminiscent of the early era of Overwatchbut it’s a shame that I can’t seem to get a closed beta key through the Twitch Drops campaign — because I’d really like to play with my friends.
My opinion is not unpopular on this matter. Reddit is full of users complaining about how bad the implementation of closed beta keys is, with bots swarming the redemption page every 17:00 PST/12:00 UTC. As of July 27, 2024, eBay is full of keys that can be purchased in the $30 to $100 range, which is a lot for a closed beta. But given that you’ll be able to unlock an exclusive Venom skin reminiscent of his color scheme in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and the willingness of post-Closed Beta players to want to show their participation in this limited test, I’m not surprised that the keys are looted and sold at a profit.
I will give a brief breakdown of how these keys are acquired. You can watch anyone Marvel Rivals Twitch stream for one hour and you are eligible to receive a key. Keys are distributed via Marvel Rivals website, assuming you’re lucky enough to redeem one. Every time a new key distribution period starts, the page where you can redeem your keys slows down. Sometimes it logs you out of your Twitch account, which means you have to spend a few seconds or a minute to log in again, or you have to do it via CAPTCHA. All of these things mean that you probably don’t get a key for the closed beta.
If you are lucky enough to get a key, then you can only redeem one key through the in-game client for the entire closed beta. Keys also go particularly quickly, with 20% to 14% available for redemption about a minute after key activation is activated. Which sucks. Because if you’re not on at the exact time when redemptions are refreshed, you probably won’t get a key.
And playing Hero Shooters without your friends is no fun. I mean, I’ve definitely stood in line by myself Marvel Rivals enough to get me halfway through the Battle Pass and close to that Cyan Venom skin in my three days with the closed beta. But when even one of my friends got access too, I had a lot more fun. And even more so when two and then three managed to intervene. We stood in line together and figured out team synergy. We had fun and worked together to box enemies so I could swallow them like Jeff the Shark and spit four opposing players off the map! It was great! And it required a lot of coordination to make it happen. I’m sure you can do this through in-game communication with random players, but you can have a lot of fun with friends.
These types of games have become social activities, ways for friends to spend time together abroad, or even just for a handful of matches to satisfy their desire for carnage – or a longing for something like Overwatch this is not Overwatch. This is me, I am this person. And I want to be able to get my friends to join in on the fun so they too can experience the really cool moments I experience in the game. Because I want to get them involved in it, and I think the way closed beta keys are distributed makes it really difficult and even potentially leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who can’t participate.
I’ll probably play Marvel Rivals when released. That’s my kind of slob. But I really feel bad for the people who were looking forward to this or even took the time to watch streams that won’t be able to participate. Because who knows, maybe they’ll feel burned out enough to not play the game.
Marvel Rivals is currently in closed beta on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
