Is Marvel Rivals free? What you can pay for explained
You're free to make new rivals.
With player counts hitting over 400,000, there are more keen gamers than ever wondering whether Marvel Rivals is free to play since many games even without a price tag can come with hidden costs.
Earning more than 20 million players in under two weeks, NetEase Games' third-person hero shooter has plenty of opportunity to try and get folks to open their wallets for premium content.
While Marvel Rivals does utilise microtransactions and premium currency, there is a distinction where it draws the line on what players need to pay for compared with other titles in the multiplayer spaces.
Is Marvel Rivals free?
Yes, Marvel Rivals is free to play.
To play Marvel Rivals for free, simply head to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Steam or Epic Games Store and search for the game. Once you’ve found the game on the platform of your choice, click to download/install.
Once the game is installed, you can play it for free.
You can happily play the game without spending a penny, but there are some things you can buy with your hard-earned cash.
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What can you pay for in Marvel Rivals?
Battlepass, currency & skins
You can pay for the Luxury Battlepass, the premium currency Lattice, and character cosmetic items including new skins with your own money in Marvel Rivals.
None of what you can buy is gameplay-changing, it is all merely cosmetic.
The Luxury Battlepass, which you can see in the image above, costs 490 Lattice. Unlock the Luxury Battlepass and you’ll have access to more rewards including character costumes and Units.
Units are the second and main currency in Marvel Rivals, which you can convert your purchase Lattice into. You can spend Units on character costumes and other new items. You will unlock some Units by completing missions, challenges and seasonal event missions. You’ll earn more by buying the Luxury Battlepass, of course.
However, you can also earn extra Units for free by completing various seasonal missions, helping offset some of the cost if you're saving up to buy your favourite Marvel Rivals skins on a budget.
If you can’t wait to earn enough Units and there’s a skin you desperately want, you can buy Units with Lattice.
You can purchase Lattice with real money in packs of 100 (89p / $0.99), 500 (£4.39 / $4.99), 1,000 (£8.49 / $9.99), 2,180 (£16.99 / $19.99), 5,680 (£42.99 / $49.99) and 11,680 (£84.99 / $99.99). Pricing will vary between regions.
That’s all there is to know about what you can pay for in Marvel Rivals. Now, it’s up to you whether you want to or not.
Rename Card
If you're not a fan of the display name you picked out for yourself when first starting Marvel Rivals, you can also spend Units you earned for free or by converting paid Lattice on a Rename Card, For the cost of 500 Units, you'll be able to purchase this item from the "Items" tab on the store and pick out a new display name as long as its available.
Keep in mind that you can only change your Marvel Rivals display name in this way once every seven days.
Read more on Marvel:
- Marvel Games boss talks multiverse, MCU and more: "We're cutting loose"
- Anthony Mackie on Twisted Metal: "The Marvel thing is completely different"
- The Stan Lee wisdom that inspired Marvel's Future Revolution mobile game
- Avengers game Hawkeye actor Giacomo Gianniotti on dogs, dystopia and "difficult" Hulk fight
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Authors
Toby Saunders is a freelance writer specialising in Video Game journalism. He has a wealth of experience in the field and is published on many different websites including PCGamesN, Nintendo Life and Pocket Tactics. He has a degree in Film Studies (he gets to write about Film and TV occasionally, too).
