It’s been exactly one year sinceMarvel Rivalsentered closed alpha on June 03, 2025, and to celebrate, the devs have unveiled a pretty massive change. The season zero battle pass is back for a limited time, and all other battle passes could now return, too.
In the Dev Talk Vol. 14 blog, theMarvel Rivalsteam highlighted a few big features to celebrate the anniversary. The biggest one revolves around battle pass changes, with the season zero pass set to return from May 15 to 29, and all battle passes now potentially able to come back in the future.
Theseason zero battle passwill be discounted to 590 Lattice when it returns for the anniversary. This is a one-time deal, as the devs explained that all future battle passes that make a return will be upcharged to cost at least 20 percent more than the original.
“Guess there’s no such thing as exclusivity in this game,” one fansaid on X (formerly Twitter). This seems to be the general sentiment most players have, and it’s understandable since battle passes were generally perceived to be exclusive before this change.
There was never any official information about whetherMarvel Rivalspasses and items from them could return, but since they have only been available with the corresponding season so far, most players took this to mean they were one and done. This isn’t the case, though, as it’s now been confirmed that all passes can return at any point.
Dear Rivals,A year ago, Marvel Rivals entered Closed Alpha – and now we’re celebrating how far we’ve come with a special surprise for our community! 🌟 Galacta’s Gift is live, and so is the return of the original S0 Battle Pass for a limited time!Full details here »…pic.twitter.com/jQ41DsT2q7
Exclusivity is a tricky feature to balance. On the one hand, many players get excited by the prospect of having rare items that not everyone has access to. On the other hand, it can be frustrating to miss out on items if you weren’t around when they were released. It’s a problem other games deal with too, and one that comes up especially often inFortnite.
There’s always going to be a lot of controversy with strong beliefs on either side, so this change is certainly a big one forMarvel Rivalsand begs the question:Isit fair to longtime players? I get both sides of the argument, and that it’s tough to get it right. After seeing similar issues arise in other games, I’m a fan of theFortnitesystem for handling exclusivity issues, and I’m hoping thatMarvel Rivalsfollows suit.
Since many players believed the season zero battle pass was exclusive prior to theMay 13 announcement, an easy fix to make this change go over better is to give OG pass owners some kind of variant. Even something as simple as an exclusivecostume color variantfor one of the battle pass skins would work.
There have been times whenFortnitehas accidentally put items in the shop that were meant to be exclusive, and to fix this, they created a different variant for the OG owners. I like this fix because it feels like the perfect compromise. Everyone gets to enjoy the items while still keeping a bit of exclusivity intact, but not in a way that massively leaves out players.
“You did everything right in this game until now. Why devalue your OG playerbase that’s been there from the beginning by giving this to everyone now?” another fansaid on X (formerly Twitter)following the announcement.
I’m not strongly for or against exclusivity, but I do think the best way to handle it is simply allowing all players to get the base items and granting unique variants to OG players. Since there are lots of players who feel strongly on both sides, it’s important to find a middle ground for this situation, and this seems like the best compromise for everyone involved.
What do you think about the battle pass exclusivity changes, and are you hoping for any additional adjustments or fixes?
