Marvel Rivals Making Big Change in Response to Players Throwing Matches

On March 7, Marvel Rivals developer NetEase Games announced some new measures it was taking to combat ranked match throwing following player feedback and suggestions. The Marvel Rivals development team stated that these new countermeasures are upgrades to its preexisting anti-throwing protocols.

In short, “throwing” a ranked match in any competitive game, including Marvel Rivals, means that someone is intentionally not participating in the game by either going away from the keyboard (AFK) or other forms of sabotage. Naturally, this puts the team with the throwing teammate at a significant disadvantage and often causes all members of the losing team to lose ranking points. Given that Marvel Rivals has competitive ranked matchmaking, this has led to some high-ranking players throwing matches to keep others out. A Marvel Rivals fan-made site named Intlist was created with the intent of putting “bounties” on known throwers by “counter-throwing” matches for profit.

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Marvel Rivals Will Compensate Victims of Ranked Match Throwing

After receiving an “overwhelming amount of feedback” from players throughout Marvel Rivals Season 6.5, NetEase Games stated that it was making two key upgrades to deter match throwing. According to Marvel Rivals‘ social media posts, a server-wide match throwing detection system has been implemented. This new system is a combination of data analysis and manual review that enhances how much malicious behavior can be detected during a ranked match. Once any malicious or intentional match throwing has been confirmed by the new system, NetEase Games stated that any accounts that violate the game’s anti-throwing rules will face some strict penalties. However, it is currently unclear what these new penalties are, or how effective they will be at deterring match throwing.

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Following the March 7 changes, Intlist stated that it was changing from a paid bounty site to a free reporting platform, focused on community transparency. Intlist stated that bounty payouts would still be made and that any unclaimed ones would be refunded in accordance with its policies. Intlist said that more details would come at a later time.

As part of its effort to deter bad player behavior, NetEase Games will compensate Marvel Rivals players who were caught in the crossfire of a match-throwing situation. This new measure is called the Victim Compensation Protocol. Given that some players have resorted to putting bounties on known throwers, this has had an adverse effect on innocent Marvel Rivals players looking to climb up the ranks. NetEase Games stated that, should its improved systems catch a match thrower, any other players who lost ranking points due to a teammate who threw the match will get their points back. Marvel Rivals players who are eligible for point compensation will receive an in-game mail notification once any lost rank points have been returned to them. It remains to be seen how quickly Marvel Rivals will compensate any victimized players, given that manual reviews are part of the new match throwing detection system.

Marvel Rivals Can Still Improve Its Punishments For Bad Player Behavior

In response to Marvel Rivals‘ changes, some fans thanked NetEase Games for their continued efforts in improving ranked matches for everyone. One Twitter user stated that they hoped that the manual review portion of Marvel Rivals‘ new throwing detection systems would also crack down on the alternate accounts, also called smurf accounts, of players who still disregard the game’s rules against throwing. Other users hoped to see Marvel Rivals continue to improve its measures against match deserters and throwers, with one stating that the end-of-season period could be the best time to test NetEase’s new countermeasures. However, the effectiveness of Marvel Rivals‘ new systems still depends on continued feedback and reports from players.

Alongside its new countermeasures against match throwing, Marvel Rivals recently laid out a 2026 roadmap inspired by The Avengers movie series. Dubbed the Path to Doomsday, Marvel Rivals will release new game modes and in-game events based on The Infinity Saga and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This roadmap culminates with a December tie-in event alongside the planned theatrical release of Avengers: Doomsday. With Marvel Rivals continuing its efforts to improve the game and bring in new players, time will tell how NetEase’s hit team shooter will fare throughout the year.