Image: NetEase Games
Gaming rivalries: a tale as old as time.
Esports athletes aren't the only ones competing in the world of video games. The video game industry as a whole is littered with franchises, platforms, and hardware trying to steal each other’s lunch, hoping to capture at least a fraction of the success that comes with being at the top of the food chain. Whether we’re talking about age-old rivalries, like Call of Duty and Battlefield vying for first-person shooter supremacy, or newer games like Marvel Rivals attempting a hostile takeover of the hero shooter genre, one thing is clear: the competition is not only fierce, but timeless.
Here are the five biggest rivalries in gaming:
Marvel Rivals vs. Overwatch 2
Image: Blizzard Entertainment
Let’s kick things off with the newest of these matchups. When Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch launched in 2016, it wasn’t even the first hero shooter to hit the market (Battleborn notoriously launched three weeks earlier and flopped), but it ended up being the most influential of the group by far. Players loved the game’s colourful maps, diverse character designs, and most importantly, the competitive power fantasy posed by its many playable heroes.
In time, development on the game declined as Blizzard turned to making a sequel. By the time Overwatch 2 had launched, it came a little too late - the playerbase had moved on to other multiplayer games, and were hesitant to return amid multiple controversies including, but not limited to, various lawsuits at Blizzard, a sudden shift to free-to-play monetisation, and the scrapping of a planned PvE mode.
NetEase Games later announced Marvel Rivals, an Overwatch-like hero shooter that took familiar hero abilities and pasted them on beloved Marvel heroes and villains (albeit with some rearrangements made to avoid overly blatant homework-copying). Thanks to the game’s flashy UI, plentiful content, and kinetic gameplay, Marvel Rivals was an instant hit. The game’s success left a sour taste in the mouths of Overwatch fans. It’s not just that another game had successfully topped Overwatch in popularity, but also that Overwatch was so slow to consider it a serious competitor.
This rivalry is still young, but it might just benefit fans of both games. The hero shooter has never had a serious rival pushing to occupy the same space before, which could lead to better content on both sides for the players. Just look at what Overwatch 2 has planned for its latest season!
Wuthering Waves vs. Genshin Impact
Image: Kuro Games
Genshin Impact has come a long way from being accused of ripping off The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild. Long enough, it seems, for another game to be accused of ripping it off in turn: Wuthering Waves. Granted, plenty of games have attempted to emulate Genshin’s open-world formula, and Wuthering Waves is far from the first to do so - but it might just end up being the most prominent of the bunch.
With a greater emphasis on its combat, the advantage of being a fresh addition to the gacha space, and no small amount of enticing playable characters to pull for, there’s no denying Wuthering Waves’ charms. Genshin, on the other hand, boasts sizable and regular updates, a backlog of content and characters, and attractively colourful visuals. One can see why players would be torn between the two - if they even choose to play one above the other.
Wuthering Waves and Genshin Impact have different selling points, but one shouldn’t forget: playing both is very much an option, even if you go broke in doing so.
Xbox vs. PlayStation
Image: Xbox
Microsoft’s gaming division Xbox and Sony’s gaming division PlayStation have been at each other’s throats since their very inception. Although their shared rivalry may have cooled down in recent years, at its peak, the competition was fierce - and once even included Nintendo! With every new console release, the companies would compete in release windows, pricing and features.
This famously culminated in Xbox giving players a laundry list of strict requirements to share games on the Xbox One (one of which was to keep the console online at all times), and Sony releasing a simple video informing viewers of how game sharing works on the PlayStation 4: you simply hand someone your game, and that’s that. This diss video wasn’t enough to destroy the Xbox brand, but it does show that both companies were quick to jump on each other’s failures for a time.
Then there are the console exclusives. Xbox fans will jump to defend franchises like Halo and Gears of War, while PlayStation fans will similarly leap to the defense of franchises like God of War and Horizon. There’s a strong sense of brand loyalty tied to each of these console companies, causing players to bicker amongst themselves even when the console makers themselves remain mostly civil.
Now that Xbox and PlayStation are leaning away from console exclusives and further towards PC ports, what will happen to their longtime rivalry?
Dota 2 vs. League of Legends
Image: Riot Games
Plenty of MOBAs have come and gone over the years, but two of the oldest in the genre - Dota 2 and League of Legends - have stood the test of the time together, if separately. Both games are quite alike, with gameplay revolving around gathering currency, making upgrades, knocking down towers, and ultimately, crushing the enemy team’s base. The finer details may vary, especially since these games continue to receive live-service updates to this day, but there are enough similarities here to establish competition.
There is a reason both of these games are so alike - their origins are entwined. Dota was a sequel to Defense of the Ancients, which famously began its life as a mod for Warcraft 3. Riot Games founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merill decided to make a game based on Defense of the Ancients, even going so far as to recruit its developers. Dota 2 launched some time after League of Legends, and managed to establish itself in a rather competitive space. The MOBA genre expanded with a massive influx of new games, a trend that has continued to this day, but both games proved to be hardy enough to retain their players.
If there’s anything the last few years have taught us, it’s that there’s room for both Dota 2 and League of Legends in the MOBA genre. Dota 2 players might not want to play League, and League players might not want to play Dota 2, but that might just be the reason both games keep chugging along.
Counter-Strike 2 vs. VALORANT
Image: Valve
At its core, VALORANT is a pretty novel twist on Counter-Strike’s famously addictive tactical shooter gameplay loop. Both games have their similarities - shooting people and defusing/arming bombs among them - but VALORANT also takes inspiration from the hero shooter genre. Its playable Agents feature unique personalities, eye-catching designs, and most importantly, multiple abilities to bring into battle.
This makes for an important difference between both games: in Counter-Strike 2, players can purchase different sets of gear to play specific roles in the battlefield, allowing for a little bit of on-the-fly adjustment. In VALORANT, each Agent's ability kit encourages a specific playstyle, without as much room for flexibility. If their kit isn’t put to use in the right way, a match can fall apart very quickly.
This isn’t to say that one game is better or worse than the other. It just means that both games appeal to different kinds of players. Do you prefer the drawn-out suspense of Counter-Strike’s tactical gameplay, or the more kinetic gameplay of VALORANT? Do you prefer Counter-Strike’s more grounded military factions, or VALORANT’s more distinctive Agents? Of the many games on this list, these are the two games most likely to have some sort of crossover. If you like Counter-Strike, there’s a decent chance you’ll like VALORANT, and vice versa. Why fight over it?
Then again, we could say that about any game on this list, couldn't we?
