Marvel Rivals Festive Season Updates: New Year's Ball Drop and Tournament Patch

Following the holiday update on December 18, NetEase launched Marvel Rivals patch 1.000.063/1.25 on December 25, 2025, across all platforms. It introduces Times Square New Year's celebration content, new store items, gameplay fixes, and tournament enhancements ahead of 2026. Players can participate in a virtual ball drop ceremony hosted by Mayor Wilson Fisk.

Building on the December 18 holiday update (version 1.000.062/1.20) with its festive events, NetEase deployed update 1.000.063/1.25 for Marvel Rivals on Christmas Day, December 25, 2025, shifting focus to New Year's festivities. This patch adds the Times Square New Year’s Ball Drop Ceremony, hosted by New York City Mayor Wilson Fisk from December 31, 2025, at 20:00:00 to January 1, 2026, at 01:00:00 (New York local time). Participants can enter Times Square between January 1, 2026, at 00:00:00 and January 3, 2026, at 00:00:00 (New York local time) to claim the “New Year 2026” title through in-game mail. Notably, a certain trickster’s Ultimate Ability will be disabled for one hour before and after the ball drop to ensure smooth proceedings.

Tournament updates include a revamped PlayStation Cup from January to March 2026, featuring real-time opponent matching for a fairer experience. Players compete until three wins or two losses, with rewards based on victories and no rank restrictions. PlayStation Cup factions are separate from those in the Marvel Rivals Championship. Additionally, the Marvel Rivals Championship and tournament history pages now display historical leaderboards.

New store additions arrive starting December 26, 2025, at 02:00:00 UTC, such as the Cloak & Dagger – Ice Pas de Deux Bundle and Thor – God of Winter Bundle, available until January 23, 2026, at 02:00:00 UTC. Other items include the Captain America – Captain of the Court Emote, Cloak & Dagger – Ice Pas de Deux Emoji Bundle, and new animations for heroes like Human Torch, Black Panther, Hela, Moon Knight, Captain America, Thor, and Hawkeye.

The update addresses several bugs, including issues with voice channels after Times Square matches, Rogue’s Fatal Attraction under high latency, Black Widow’s Ultimate Ability visibility in spectator mode, Cloak & Dagger form switching, Cloak’s Darkforce Cloak targeting, Invisible Woman’s accessory visibility, and cross-platform ranked data display errors. These fixes enhance stability as the game prepares for 2026.

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