Marvel Rivals Unbans Innocent Players After Unfair Banwave

Marvel Rivals Developer Apologizes for Wrongful Bans; Players Call for Rank-Inclusive Character Bans

NetEase, the developer of Marvel Rivals, issued a public apology for mistakenly banning numerous innocent players. The incident, which occurred on January 3rd, saw a significant number of non-Windows users—primarily those using compatibility layers on macOS, Linux, and Steam Deck—incorrectly flagged as cheaters. These players were subsequently banned, despite not employing any cheating software.

The erroneous bans stemmed from NetEase's efforts to combat cheating within the game. However, the company's anti-cheat system apparently misidentified compatibility layer software, such as Proton on SteamOS, as cheating programs. NetEase has since rectified the situation, lifting the bans and expressing regret for the inconvenience caused. They encouraged players to report actual cheating incidents and utilize the in-game or Discord support channels for appeals against wrongful bans.

Separately, a significant portion of the Marvel Rivals community is advocating for the expansion of the in-game character ban system. Currently, this feature—allowing players to remove specific characters from selection—is only available in Diamond rank and above. Players in lower ranks argue that the lack of character bans creates unbalanced matchups and limits strategic diversity. They believe that implementing character bans across all ranks would improve gameplay balance, provide valuable learning opportunities for newer players, and foster more diverse team compositions beyond simple DPS-focused strategies.

While NetEase hasn't yet publicly responded to these calls for change, the player feedback highlights a desire for more inclusive competitive features within the game. The future will determine whether NetEase addresses these concerns and expands the character ban system to all ranks.