Gamer Burnout

Manny A

Feb 2, 2025 — 5 min read

Two things can exist at the same time. Not sure who said that but I'm going to claim this for the sake of my argument. The Overwatch vs Marvel Rivals discourse has caught on like wild fire and it has become outrageous how reactionary everyone has become since the release of the NetEase hero shooter. From the looks of it, you would have thought that Rivals was the best game known to man and that Overwatch had done something personal to its fanbase in previous years. But from someone who has ventured out in other genres of gaming, this is a trend I have seen before many times in the Fighting Game Community (FGC).

TEKKEN 8 – AVAILABLE NOW! | SDTEKKEN.COM - TEKKEN News Resource!

As I am typing this, there is sort of a movement of new generation fighting games such as Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 receiving high and somewhat deserving criticism as of late given the recent release of Heihachi who was supposed DEAD and Clive from Final Fantasy XVI as well as the somewhat repetitiveness and imbalance with the Capcom staple. With certain mechanics like Rage Art and Heat Engagers, the style of Tekken 8 as explained by the developers themselves is catered to beginner and casual players to keep up with pros which has seemingly left a bad taste in their mouth as a large portion of the player base (me included as I have Tekken King at my finger tips like it's the WWE Championship Belt during a ladder match) will lose not due to skill but pure luck mashing buttons or hoping the Rage Art catches you slippin'. The backlash towards Clive has become so noticeable that Namco almost immediately nerfed his moves to make the game playable. And that seems to be the issue with the state of the FGC where the overall response from the latest games is to go back to its predecessor.

The problem with this is that this is due to two obvious reasons:

Players going back to the previous title is a normal reaction as they retreat to the very game that brought them the MOST success. The quest for dopamine from defeating your opponent and successfully moving up in the ranks to a game/system you are most familiar with.
Burnout. Putting hours upon hours into a game to learn the system, learn the matchups, apply new tech to level up in your rank. Looking at guides, sitting in practice mode to sharpen your execution, playing with your friends, entering in tournaments and such.

Opinion - Overwatch is dead, this time for good - Esport | esports.com

Which brings me to the newest trend: Shitting on Overwatch. The genre defining Hero Shooter that has created a culture of guides, cosplay and having a large amount of participants for their e-sports tournament. A game that has set the standard for hero shooters that have followed it. And since it's global phenomenon it has also had its fair share of competition. Despite all of this none has matched the level of popularity that Blizzard's Overwatch has brought and you would be an idiot if you say otherwise.

So why are people trashing Overwatch and praising Marvel Rivals? To put it simply, Overwatch is old and dusty and Marvel Rivals is the new hotness. Rivals stars your favorite heroes and villains from the Marvel universe that majority of people are familiar with. All with unique personalities and accurate interactions that pertains to the comics they are based off of. Multiply that with what the Marvel Cinematic Universe and you have a recipe for a godsend hero shooter. Oh yea, it's FREE. Overwatch had it's time. It's been out since 2016. Overwatch has been THEE Hero Shooter for almost a solid decade now and is still pushing content especially since that [redacted] CEO finally vacated the position at Blizzard and let the developers run the show. And with that it has a large amount of controversies that came with it, patches to balance, and a botched sequel launch.

But gamers are ultimately burnt out. As great as the game is it was time for other options where gamers can link up with their friends and play tactically like in Rainbow Six or participate in a dystopian game show in THE FINALS or fight giant bugs in the name of Democracy in Helldivers 2. And what comes with burnout comes massive backlash. Because Overwatch for some reason has made people's lives so miserable that they need to make an incessive amount of grifting youtube videos about the "Death of Overwatch," something they've been doing for the past several years. Gamer Burnout is ultimately a reactionary result to just....playing the same game for so long. And let's not get started on the psychological damage RANK MATCHES does to you.

Marvel Rivals' Success Already Has the Overwatch Devs Squirming

Marvel Rivals can in fact co exist with the likes of Overwatch without the negativity that has come along with it. Rivals has it's fair share of problems, really NOTICEABLE problems but they are ultimately ignored because frankly, IT'S NOT OVERWATCH. And with the amount of time that people are putting into it and all the media that has come with it, AND with the recent news that the devs are trying to add a new character, it is very plausible that the burnout will come sooner than they think the same way Tekken players have gone from 8 to 7. Or how Starcraft players go from 2 to 1. Or how Street Fighter players went from 6 to 5

or to 4

or to 3rd Strike

or Street Fighter II I am not joking.

When A SF3 Third Strike Player Plays SF6

In any case, what I'm trying to say here is play something else. Play a different genre. Don't take these titles as you're own because it's an unhealthy obsession that may turn into absolute rage and retaliation. You cannot deny what Overwatch has done for Gaming as a whole and you would be a fool to think otherwise and to go on a long winded Hate Rant is ridiculous. Because let's be real, once there is a predetermined style of play in Rivals that ultimately forces the devs to make drastic changes (Remember GOATS?) the same response will be given. The predecessor will be praised while the current gen will have it's fair share of "Rivals is Dead" when we know it's not. And the cycle will continue.

So gamers....play something else.

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