Marvel Rivals announced big plans to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival including new skins and a soccer game mode.
Since launching in December, the superhero arena shooter has held several in-game events, including a winter event to close out last year and an ongoing crossover with other Marvel games that includes a Deadpool cosmetic.
When Will Marvel Rivals' Spring Festival Event Start?
Marvel Rivals' Spring Festival event will begin on Thursday, January 23 at 1 a.m. PT/4 a.m. ET, bringing with it the new skins and soccer game mode, as confirmed on X (formerly Twitter).
The Spring Festival, otherwise known as Chinese New Year, will take place in 2025 from Tuesday, January 28 to Wednesday, February 12. Rivals will begin its celebrations early on January 23 as the Marvel game typically updates on Thursdays and ends on Friday, February 14.
After Rivals' recent promise to release new heroes every month-and-a-half, fans should expect the mid-Season 1 update to arrive just a few weeks after the Spring Festival ends, bringing with it Human Torch and the Thing as playable heroes.
Some Marvel Rivals updates in the past included server downtime, potentially leaving the game briefly unplayable before the event. That said, no such downtime has been confirmed for the upcoming release just yet.
The Chinese New Year event comes as a particularly special one since developer NetEase Games hails from China. Mobile game Marvel Snap recently faced a ban in the U.S. due to its affiliation with Chinese publisher ByteDance but has now returned as Donald Trump's second presidential term gets underway.
What New Skins Are Part of Marvel Rivals' Spring Festival Event?
Marvel Rivals' Spring Festival will bring with it Chinese-themed outfits with exotic designs for Black Widow, Iron Fist, and Star-Lord.
Both Black Widow and Iron Fist are expected to have their outfits land in Rivals' in-game store, while the Star-Lord outfit will be unlockable for free.
While it has not been confirmed how the free Star-Lord costume will be unlocked, the "Cuddly Fuzzlefin" outfit for Jeff the Land Shark was obtained during the Winter Celebration event by completing challenges in the "Jeff's Winter Splash Festival."
As such, Star-Lord's special spring attire will likely be unlocked through challenges in the new "Clash of Dancing Lions" soccer-based game mode.
Clash of Dancing Lions: New Gamemode Explained
Speaking of the new game mode on the way to Marvel Rivals, "Clash of Dancing Lions" will be the latest addition coming with the Spring Festival event. The three-versus-three mode takes place on a Rocket League-esque soccer pitch called "Wakanda's World Arena" in which players will battle for control of the ball.
Players will fight to run the ball up and down the pitch toward the opposing goal, while the win will go to the first team to reach 10 points (goals scored) or whichever has more at the end of the timer.
Rival arena shooter Overwatch has previously featured a similar Lucioball game mode as part of its Summer Games events in previous years. Based on the gameplay shown in the trailer, players appear to be locked to playing as Star-Lord, Black Widow, and Iron Fist in the soccer mode.
The full trailer can be seen below:
Marvel Rivals is available to download free now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
