Marvel Rivals Apologizes for Banning Non-Cheaters

Marvel Rivals Developer, NetEase, Issues Apology for Unfair 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 within the game.

Accidental Bans Affect Non-Windows Users

The mass-banning effort inadvertently targeted numerous players utilizing compatibility layers on non-Windows operating systems, including macOS, Linux, and Steam Deck. On January 3rd, community manager James acknowledged the error on the official Discord server, stating that players using compatibility software were wrongly flagged as cheaters. NetEase has since reversed the bans for all affected players and apologized for the inconvenience. They encouraged players to report actual cheating behavior and offered an appeal process for those wrongly banned. The use of Proton compatibility layer on SteamOS, in particular, appears to have triggered the anti-cheat system.

Calls for Universal Character Bans

Separately, the Marvel Rivals community is advocating for a change to the game's character ban system. Currently, the ability to ban specific characters is only available to players in Diamond rank and above. Many players, particularly those in lower ranks, express frustration on the game's subreddit, highlighting the competitive disadvantage this creates. They argue that implementing character bans across all ranks would improve gameplay balance, provide valuable learning opportunities for newer players, and encourage more diverse team compositions. While NetEase has yet to respond publicly to this feedback, the community's call for a more inclusive character ban system is gaining traction.