Marvel Rivals: Content Creators Asked to Sign Contract That Prohibits Saying Anything Negative to Gain Access to Playtest
In case you didn’t know, Marvel Rivals, the hero shooter being developed by NetEase (think Overwatch meets Marvel) launched its closed alpha playtest this weekend. As one might expect, content creators are covering the game in order to give interested players an idea of how it plays, but it seems these said creators aren’t even allowed to say anything negative about the still-in-development multiplayer game.
Streamer Brandon Larned has outed that in order to gain access to the closed playtest, content creators such as himself are now allowed to say anything negative about Marvel Rivals, as mentioned in the contract.
Dataminer and reliable leaker Miller also weighed in on this recent development (as most content creators might not have even read this part of the contract before signing it).
I didn't want to engage in this conversation because I told NetEase I would avoid negative topics where possible and I really did intend to stick to that, but this involves dear friends and I have to address this. Here's the timeline.
I was doing Jay and Sadot's podcast. This… https://t.co/FGUqQwJtut
— Miller Ross (@mmmmmmmmiller) May 12, 2024
While it’s standard practice that streamers, members of the press (like us) signs an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) in order to play a game early or gain access to a private test, it’s very rare that a developer or publisher prohibits the participant to say anything negative about the game. Sure, I understand that NetEase probably doesn’t want some random Overwatch content creator dunking on Marvel Rivals or calling it a copycat and whatnot, but surely there must’ve been a better way to do this than prohibiting people from saying anything negative about your game, right? Heck, NetEase could have mentioned in the NDA that content creators can’t put the word “review” in their content when handing a verdict about the game, and that might have been okay.
Marvel’s Rivals has no release date set yet, but it’s confirmed to be headed to PC, with a console release looking like it’s a certainty given the datamined info.
If you’re curious at what each hero can do, check out our hero blowout where we list down the abilities of all 19 characters available in the closed alpha.
Update: NetEase has issued a tweet about the contract and basically said that content creators can talk about the game as they wish.
Dear Marvel Rivals players,
Today is the third day of the Closed Alpha Test, and we are truly grateful for all the love and support from the community.
We would like to take this opportunity to address the concerns we’ve seen regarding the agreement terms of Content Creator…
— Marvel Rivals (@MarvelRivals) May 13, 2024
If anything about this develops more, we’ll update the article.
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As crappy as the practices are, legally binding people from saying negative things, it’s pretty standard practice these days. Even content creators who get to see movies early sign a similar contract where they are not allowed to say anything negative. I know from experience that studios now rely on twitter to get a good buzz going about even the shittiest of movies. Madame Webb early reactions are a good source of proof. They couldn’t say anything bad, so it’s become normal to call a bad superhero movie “something straight out of 2001” or other types of backhanded compliments.
Game studios have been catching on and are doing the same thing. If you see early reactions to games, they will be mostly positive and anything negative won’t be directly said.
I saw a video recently on Paper Mario for the Switch. The person literally made a 15 minute video on how 60 FPS doesn’t really matter and it’s probably a good thing the game has been limited to 30 FPS. Even though the Gamecube could handle 60 FPS easily…