Yesterday, Marvel Rivals introduced a controversial mechanic as part of its Galacta’s Gift event called Chrono Shield Cards, which prevents points from being lost when losing a ranked game.
The announcement was met with backlash online, prompting developers to step forward to clarify the situation in order to quell the outrage.
Galacta’s Gift was unveiled as a love letter from Marvel Rivals to the community, celebrating one year since the game entered closed alpha. The collection, which comes out today (May 15th), includes a variety of free items such as nameplates, sprays, costume coins and more.
However, during the 21 second trailer, fans noticed a new item called ‘Chrono Shield Cards’ glossed over in the video. This prompted threads to be opened on Reddit, with some referring to it as a ‘terrible idea’.
The in-game description reads: “Activate a Chrono Shield to prevent point loss from a defeat in Competitive. If one is active, using this item won’t consume it. Chrono Shield Cards will be automatically cleared at the end of each season. Limit: 20.”
Backlash online was relentless, particularly from content creators and streamers covering the game. This stemmed from the impression that the consumable items may be introduced as the game’s first ‘pay-to-win’ method.
Marvel Rivals Quells Fears
Marvel Rivals posted an official response online, addressing any concerns and misconceptions about the Chrono Shield Cards.
In the response posted, Marvel Rivals wrote: “Hey Rivals, both Chrono Shield Tokens from ranked matches and Chrono Shield Cards from events will not be for sale and are only usable for Gold rank and below. The purpose is to allow lower-ranked players to enter ranked mode with even less pressure through this mechanism.”
It’s unlikely that the game will go pay-to-win any time soon, especially since NetEase has been pushing quite aggressively to make the game competitive and foster an esports scene.
With the seasonal Championships, alongside the upcoming $3m (~£2.26m) Ignite tournament, introducing mechanics like Chrono Shield Tokens at the highest level would be counterintuitive. Instead, Chrono Shield looks to provide some support to the game’s lower-ranked players.
