Marvel Rivals Issues Apology for Unjust Bans

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

Accidental Bans Affect Mac, Linux, and Steam Deck Users

On January 3rd, community manager James announced on the official Discord server that players utilizing compatibility layers (Mac, Linux, and Steam Deck) were wrongly identified as cheaters. NetEase confirmed the error, stating that the bans were lifted and apologized for the inconvenience. They encouraged players to report genuine cheating and offered an appeal process for wrongful bans. The Steam Deck's Proton compatibility layer is known to trigger some anti-cheat systems, suggesting this may not be an isolated incident.

Calls for Universal Character Bans

Separately, the Marvel Rivals community is advocating for a change to the in-game character ban system. Currently, character bans are only available in Diamond rank and above. Players in lower ranks express frustration, arguing that the lack of bans creates unfair matchups and limits strategic diversity. Reddit users highlight the disparity, noting that the ban system's absence hinders gameplay for lower-ranked players, while higher-ranked players benefit from the strategic depth it provides. NetEase has yet to publicly address these concerns.