Entering Marvel Contest of Champions: Third Anniversary

“Marvel Contest of Champions” turned three this past weekend, a truly epic milestone for a truly incredible game. We got together with the gang at Kabam—Creative Direction Gabriel Frizzera and Quest Designers Scott Bradford and Dominic O’Grady—to talk a little about what this anniversary means to them, share some stats about players’ brutal brawls on Battlerealm, and what they have planned to celebrate!

Marvel.com: “Contest of Champions” is another year older and I can only imagine the solar dollars the Collector’s sunk into the upkeep of Battlerealm. The place must be a mess with all the fighting going on constantly right?

Scott Bradford: It’s definitely crazy! Every month, the game changes to a whole new beast—and sometimes permanently as we’ve done with the release of “Act 5: Elder’s War” this year. We’re always working on things for veterans and new players, to keep people on their toes with exciting—and challenging!—content!

Gabriel Frizzera: It’s been three years in Earth time. In the Battlerealm, time is relative. It could be a blink of an eye; it could be the age of the universe. But, all poetics aside, “Contest” has been a [labor] of love to all of us, and it’s truly a privilege to be the custodians of this vast universe of [colorful] Marvel characters punching each other in the face. May it last forever!

Marvel.com: Actually, speaking of constant battling, how many fights have actually happened in the past three years?

Scott Bradford – More than 39 billion! That just blows my mind. We’re so fortunate to have such a great group of players who are that devoted to having these amazing Marvel characters duke it out. A fair few of those fights may have been against The Collector! We’re looking forward to few more billion fights right alongside our players!

Marvel.com: Geez oh pizza, that’s a frick ton of fights. If you had to pick your favorite matchups, favorite battles from the last three years, what would they be?

Scott Bradford: It’s been really interesting seeing how people react to all the random Buff and Champion combinations that are possible in M.O.D.O.K.’s Lab. With completely random Buffs and Enemies, it’s hard to know what you’ll end up with, but it’s really cool to see how people handle combinations that have never been seen before and form new strategies. A personal favorite is also a particular Spider-Gwen fight in “Act 5 Chapter 2” which was a bit of a joke for our players. It was really awesome to see how much of a laugh our community got out of that fight, and how deceptively hard it was!

Gabriel Frizzera: The “wildcard” characters were the best for me. Yes, people expect us to create events based on the awesome [Marvel Cinematic Universe] films and publishing events, but every time we can shine a light on somewhat unknown Marvel characters, I feel that I’ve done my job right. To have people come to us and say they love Moon Knight, or Howard the Duck, or The Hood because of the approach we took for those characters, is very rewarding. And of course our own original matchups, like Guillotine vs. Morningstar, are something that adds a special sauce to “Contest of Champions,” and helps our game keep growing even after three years.

Marvel.com: And how many people are currently partaking in the Marvelous melee you all have cooked up?

Dominic O’Grady: A small few, over 122 million of them; no big deal, right? We’re honored to have such a massive and passionate crowd of Summoners on this journey with us, and we’re all beyond excited to go into year [four]: A year with many, many more surprises waiting ahead!

Marvel.com: What about crystals, the containers of our sweet sweet champions? How many have been cracked open?

Dominic O’Grady: With over 13 Billion crystals opened so far, it’s a wonder The Collector hasn’t thrown a fit about his stock being dipped into so often. I guess that means he’s got an even bigger collection than we initially thought. The Battlerealm has a lot of space for a guy like him! Now if only he and The Grandmaster could share better…

Marvel.com: Following that, have any champions emerged as particular fan favorites? Who have Summoners chosen most for their teams?

Dominic O’Grady: There are many fan favorites! With 112 Champions now, it can be tough to figure out who the most [favorite] is, however we do have a list of the most used Champions in The Contest based on their rarity. Experienced Summoners might not be surprised to find that they’re all some of the oldest Champions in the game, too!

• 1-Star: Spider-Man – Spidey is one of the first Champions most Summoners will acquire, no secret in The Contest, but he’s still a fan favorite at nearly every level.
• 2-Star: Wolverine – You can’t keep a good mutant down, and Wolverine is a well-rounded character with solid damage, the ability to heal himself, and packs in some good bleed damage, too!
• 3-Star: Colossus – Every team needs a tank, and few are better at it than Colossus. His immunity to bleeding and massive defensive potential make him a great pick for up-and-coming Summoners.
• 4-Star: Scarlet Witch – It’s no surprise that Scarlet Witch is a favorite here. Even with a few tweaks made to her kit, she’s a character with a ton of potential and a lot of surprises in her random buff/debuff roulette.
• 5-Star: Star-Lord – Oh Peter, whatever will we do with you? For pro players, it’s hard to beat Star-Lord’s signature skill; the longer your combo, the more damage he does! Plus he’s got a pretty cool gun.

Marvel.com: Is the team doing anything to celebrate the game’s birthday?

Gabriel Frizzera: We’ll take a month off! Just kidding, we can’t do that—The Contest never sleeps! We’ll probably have some Isosphere-shaped cake here in the office and then go back to creating awesome content for years four, five, six, and beyond. After all, there’s nothing we [would] rather do than create Marvel goodness to the millions of fans out there.

Dominic O’Grady: I think we’re all going to catch up on sleep a little.

Scott Bradford: I’m too busy playing M.O.D.O.K.’s Lab to sleep! In all seriousness, we’ve also got some really fun celebrations lined up for our players! Everyone will receive a free Howard the Duck as either a 3 or 4-Star Champion, depending on how long they’ve been participating in The Contest, and everyone will have a 20% Boost to XP, Gold, and Battlechips for the entire Anniversary week [of] December 10-1). This, paired with week-long sales on some potions and revives, Anniversary Titles for every Summoner, and a special week-long login calendar are our thank you to players for making The Contest what it is.

Marvel.com: Anything else you want us to know going into year four?

Gabriel Frizzera: Well, there’s the small matter of one Mad Titan coming to wreck the Battlerealm that can be seen in our new trailer…

And believe me when I say the Champions in The Contest are not prepared for what Thanos is going to do when he completes his Infinity Gauntlet. Since 2014 we have been building to this moment, pretty much like in the MCU, and the payoff will be grand. I mean, if there’s any Battlerealm left, it will be the stage for a very different Contest of Champions…

Happy third birthday to “Marvel Contest of Champions,” and stay tuned to Marvel.com as well as @MarvelGames on Twitter for more news and interviews!