NetEase Permanently Bans Nearly 500 Marvel Rivals Cheaters, With Most Accounts Stuck In Bronze
NetEase has issued one of its clearest warnings yet to Marvel Rivals players who use cheats, unauthorized tools, or client tampering software. In a new Marvel Rivals official update, the studio confirmed that nearly 500 accounts have been permanently banned after an investigation into cheating activity that appeared after a recent weekend update.
According to NetEase, the issue began when a group of players started promoting and using unauthorized third party enhancements. The studio responded by investigating the accounts involved and identifying hundreds of players who violated what it described as its core commitment to keeping Marvel Rivals fair.
“A fair and honorable arena.”
— NetEase
After confirming the violations, NetEase permanently banned the accounts involved and made it clear that future offenders will face the same outcome. Any account verified to be using cheats, illicit assist programs, or client tampering methods will be permanently removed from the game. The studio also highlighted the enforcement action through the official Marvel Rivals X post.
Penalty Announcement: Zero Tolerance on Cheats
— Marvel Rivals (@MarvelRivals) May 25, 2026
Hi Rivals,
Recently, our telemetry detected that following the weekend update, a faction of rogue players began promoting and deploying unauthorized third-party enhancements. This blatant disruption of our fair battlefield has…
NetEase also used the update to address rumors that Marvel Rivals’ anti cheat system could be disabled through launch parameters. The company said those claims are false and clarified that the anti cheat software starts together with the game client.
“Our anti cheat launches concurrently with the game client and cannot be disabled independently. The parameter in question merely hides the pop up window; it does not deactivate the anti cheat software in any capacity.”
— NetEase
That clarification is important because some players reportedly believed they were bypassing the game’s security system by changing launch settings, when in reality they were only hiding a notification window. For a competitive hero shooter like Marvel Rivals, where ranked integrity and player trust are essential, NetEase’s response sends a direct message that cheating tools will not be tolerated.
What makes the situation even more embarrassing for the banned players is the rank distribution shared in the official post. NetEase listed the banned accounts with mostly censored usernames and their ranks, and the largest group came from Bronze, the game’s lowest competitive tier. According to the list, 184 Bronze players were permanently banned, meaning many of those using cheats still failed to climb meaningfully through the ranked ladder.
Only 3 banned accounts had reached the game’s highest rank, One Above All. The next largest groups were Grandmaster and Diamond players, with 65 banned accounts in each tier. While some of the Bronze accounts may have been newly created alternate accounts used to protect main accounts from punishment, the numbers still create a striking picture. Even with cheats, many players could not escape the bottom of the ranking system before being caught.
NetEase also warned that simply making new accounts may not protect repeat offenders. The studio can escalate enforcement to IP bans and hardware bans when verified repeat behavior is detected. This puts Marvel Rivals in line with other major competitive online titles that have taken stricter approaches to cheat enforcement, including Apex Legends and Marathon.
For Marvel Rivals, strong anti cheat enforcement is especially important because the game is built around competitive team based play, hero abilities, fast positioning, aim accuracy, and strategic coordination. Cheaters do not only damage match outcomes. They damage player trust, ranked credibility, and long term community health. A visible ban wave helps reassure legitimate players that NetEase is actively monitoring the ecosystem.
The studio’s decision to publicly list banned accounts, while censoring usernames enough to avoid direct exposure, also adds a layer of public accountability. It shows that cheating is not being handled quietly in the background, but is being addressed in a way that players can see.
Marvel Rivals continues to grow as one of the major online PvP games in the market, and that success naturally attracts bad actors trying to exploit competitive systems. NetEase’s latest ban wave shows that the studio wants to protect the game’s ranked environment early, before cheating becomes a larger issue.
For players, the lesson is simple. Practice, teamwork, and game knowledge remain the only sustainable ways to climb. Cheating not only risks a permanent ban, but based on this latest wave, it apparently does not even guarantee getting out of Bronze.
Do you think public ban lists help discourage cheating in competitive games, or should studios keep enforcement fully private?
