Marvel Rivals developer NetEase has announced a crackdown on popular third-party app Blitz, which players have been using to track damage statistics, ban certain heroes, and more.
In a Steam post, NetEase says that Blitz “injects itself” into the game’s process, allowing users to view “confidential information like damage and healing statistics”. Not only that, but the tool also allows players to predict enemy ultimate cooldowns and “selectively ban heroes”, which NetEase says “severely undermin[es]” fairness.
As such, NetEase says it’s officially deemed Blitz to be “cheating software”, and so using it in the game is no longer allowed. If you’ve got Blitz installed and you’re using it for Marvel Rivals, it’s probably best to uninstall it, and if you aren’t using it yet, I wouldn’t recommend starting.
However, if you have used the tool in the past, NetEase says that you “will not face any penalties, as long as you refrain from using it in future games”.
The developer closes by imploring players not to use any third-party plugins in order to “uphold justice in our gaming universe and protect the integrity of your account”, so it sounds like you’ll face a ban if you are caught using Blitz.
If you’re not familiar with Blitz, it’s a tool that provides overlays for multiplayer games like League of Legends, Valorant, and indeed Marvel Rivals until today.
Its use is tolerated by other game companies; in fact, according to Blitz itself, the tool is officially recognized by Riot, so Marvel Rivals‘ stance is perhaps a little unusual among games for which players use the tool.
If you’re unfamiliar with Marvel Rivals, it’s a third-person hero shooter that’s essentially Overwatch with Marvel characters. Heroes like Iron Man, Venom, and Storm do battle across a variety of maps, completing objectives like protecting certain areas or escorting moving objects to their destination.
The game recently hit 40 million registered players, according to developer NetEase, but that didn’t stop the company closing down the Seattle studio responsible for Marvel Rivals and laying off all of its employees.
You can check out Marvel Rivals right now for free on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Just don’t use Blitz while you’re doing so, eh?
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