Since the success of Black Myth: Wukong, the presence of Chinese games overseas has become stronger and stronger. According to media statistics, in January this year before the Spring Festival, six of the top 10 game products produced or invested in China were on the list among the top 10 of Steam's global best-selling weekly list. Among them, NetEase's "Marvel Brawl", Tencent's "Delta Action" and other games have maintained a strong momentum. According to the latest data, the number of global players exceeded 40 million in less than 3 months after the launch of "Marvel Battle", the average daily online players of the game were about 400,000, and the peak of simultaneous online Steam reached 644,000 in January, and it still ranked among the top three on the Steam active list in February. The game's global revenue in the first month was about 140 million US dollars (about 1 billion yuan), of which the Steam platform contributed about 54.5 million US dollars. In addition, the game also performed strongly in overseas communities such as Discord and Reddit, and the number of Twitch live viewers once surpassed that of "GTA5" and "League of Legends". Such achievements have attracted widespread attention from overseas manufacturers. Many developers are realizing that the advantages of Chinese manufacturers are no longer limited to mobile, but are beginning to attack the PC market, which is the self-proclaimed leader in the West. Of course, the covetousness of Western developers is not only for Marvel Brawl, but also for the competitiveness of Chinese manufacturers in many aspects such as character design, art presentation and long-term operation. In contrast, Western games have embarked on a path of madness, with more and more games being boycotted or overturned by players, and many manufacturers are in danger of layoffs and closures. For example, at the end of last year, Naughty Dog's Intergalactic (Interstellar: Heretical Prophet) female character design was once again resisted by players. Marek Tyminski, CEO of CI Games, the developer of Lords of the Fallen, also tweeted against designing characters that players don't like. Some foreign media even directly typed the title "CI CEO: Western developers should learn from Chinese manufacturers how to design female characters". Recently, foreign media Polygon also noticed the outstanding performance of NetEase's "Marvel Brawl". The game cleverly adds more characters from Asia, removing all kinds of stereotypes about Asian characters in the West, making these characters not only popular with Asian players, but also loved by Western players. This kind of attempt is obviously more constructive than the white left, which only shouts slogans and does not do practical things. Polygon spoke via email with NetEase creative director Guangyun Chen to discuss the game's character design. Matrix Jun compiled and sorted out the interview.

How to properly design Asian characters in Marvel Brawl After its release late last year, Marvel Brawl took the gaming market by storm, proving that there are still plenty of possibilities for hero shooters after games like Overwatch, Valorant, and Apex Legends. Impressively, in addition to the popular characters, Marvel Brawl also includes characters from Asian backgrounds such as Iron Fist, Penny Parker, Grey Butterfly, and Luna Snow to reflect the diversity. And the success of "Marvel Brawl" is that these characters are not just joined for the sake of political correctness, they not only break the stereotype of Asia in the West, but they are also very popular and loved by players. Marvel Brawl proves that a game can be both diverse and loved by players at the same time.

The new origins of Tekken are exemplified by the character of Tekken. Tekken is compelling because his character's background is somewhat controversial, and Marvel's interpretation of the character, whether intentional or unintentional, resolves that controversy. Chen Guangyun said that when deciding which characters to add to the roster of "Marvel Brawl", the obvious characters came to mind — Iron Man, Hulk, Thor. However, the NetEase team also wanted to add some lesser-known but interesting characters. Marvel Brawl is an opportunity to create new interpretations of old characters, the most interesting of which is the game's Iron Fist. The hero is often referred to as Danny Rand, a white kung fu enthusiast born into a wealthy New York City family. In the 2022 edition of Iron Fist, Volume 6, Issue 1, a young Chinese male named Lin Lie becomes the new Iron Fist – Marvel Brawl chose this version of Iron Fist. This intriguing choice led to an interesting result: it avoided the controversy surrounding the cultural appropriation of Tekken. Back in 2015, Disney and Marvel announced that they would be making a live-action adaptation of Tekken. Subsequently, the Asian-American community called for a change that set the hero as Asian rather than white. But as a result, Danny Rand was still played by British actor Finn Jones. While Chen and NetEase declined to comment on whether the controversy was a reason for Lin Lie to replace Danny Rand, Chen said, "When we design the character backgrounds, we always take into account the latest comic book storylines to make sure everything feels fresh and aligned with the current Marvel Universe." In fact, Marvel cooperated with NetEase as early as 2018 to launch the role of Lin Lie as the Sword Master. This series of events eventually brought popularity to Marvel's Brawl. It's a fresh take on the hero, and it does make sense rather than a simple racial twist, and avoids controversy about the hero's origins. Speaking of Iron Fist though, his kung fu abilities are directly related to Asian culture, so it makes sense that the hero comes from a similar background. That's not to say that other races and cultures can't practice kung fu or martial arts, but considering that most of the famous heroes are white, Iron Fist with Asian ancestry is a big step toward diversity.

K-pop swept by Lin Lie's Iron Fist isn't the only one working with Asian studiosMarvel characters born. In 2018, mobile game developer NetMarble introduced Luna Snow in Marvel: Future Battle. Luna Snow is a South Korean K-pop idol with ice powers, and she is now a playable character in Marvel Brawl. As K-pop grew in popularity, it was only a matter of time before video game developers took notice. The boy group BTS has collaborated with games such as Space Werewolf Killing, Adventure Island, and one of its members, Jung Kook, has promoted Xbox Game Pass. The girl group LE SSERAFIM wrote the song "Perfect Night" for Overwatch 2, while NewJeans wrote "Gods" for League of Legends. With Luna Snow appearing in Marvel Battle, could the game also be a K-pop collaboration — though when asked if the producers had any plans to do so, Chan only said stay tuned. The addition of characters such as Lin Lie and Luna has undoubtedly attracted more players. Recently, there has been a wave of opposition in the DEI movement, especially in the gaming space. But in my opinion, expanding the audience by creating diverse characters helps create a much richer and more interesting universe. The question is not to oppose diversity, but how to design it. "Marvel Brawl" is clearly a positive case. The other two Asian characters in "Marvel Brawl" are not newcomers either. Butterflies appeared in the 2003 film X-Men: Last Stand, and in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse. She is a mutant assassin with superpowers, but her portrayal in these live-action films weakens her image of a butterfly, which is a clear manifestation of her superpowers. This is especially evident in the Wolverine and X-Men animated series. Thankfully, her Marvel Brawl character brings that image to players—and thanks to the game's more cartoon-style art, her image is even more appealing. "Momoko's hit manga "Demon Age" was a huge success, and the character of Lingdie is unforgettable." Chan explains, "We love her so much! We think her unique origin story makes her a perfect fit for Brawl. "Penny Parker is widely known for the incredible Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie, and her portrayal in Marvel Brawl bears a lot of similarities to her D.Va in Overwatch. It's not hard to see why. They are all Asian, and they all drive giant robots on the battlefield. Just like Luna in Marvel Brawl, D.Va in Overwatch is the Korean representative of the game. She is a professional gamer, and esports is very popular in South Korea, which is known as the "capital of esports".

Who else will join? While Marvel Brawl already has a rich and diverse cast of characters, players expect more. I immediately thought of Shang-Chi and Spider Silk. Shang-Chi has a live-action version in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while Spider Silk is a popular Spider-Man character. She is briefly introduced at the end of Marvel's Spider-Man 2. However, it is unclear how they will differ from Tekken and Spider-Man in character design - Shang-Chi's power is based on martial arts, such as Tekken; And the power of spider silk comes from radioactive spiders, such as Spider-Man. Even with a diverse roster of heroes, Marvel Brawl still has room for improvement. First, its Asian role is made up of East Asians, with South and Southeast Asia underrepresented. It's easy to fix, though. Popular character Kamala Khan is Ms. Marvel. Marvel) is of Pakistani descent and seems like the obvious choice for Marvel Brawl. Not only is she the star protagonist of the Avengers Story event, but she is also a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jubilee in X-Men should also be considered. She is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Let's not stop at heroes! Villains are also important. Martin Li, also known as Mister Negative, is the main villain in the Marvel's Spider-Man universe. While Asians are often portrayed as villains, especially in Western media, Mr. Negative's character has a lot of depth. He subtly embodies the Eastern Yin and Yang theme, as he is both the owner of a homeless shelter and a ruthless gang leader. He showed that Asian characters can embody not only heroic qualities, but also diverse human natures, making them fully self-contained beings. Players have a lot to look forward to, and the future of Marvel Brawl is bright. Both as a game that is always fun and as a representation of diversity. Its initial cast of characters is much better than many other games in terms of variety, thanks to the Marvel Universe's rich library of genres. And from the success of "Marvel Brawl", it can also be seen that when Chinese manufacturers participate in the development of a game, it is possible to exert their own subjective initiative to get more say, not only to create popular Asian characters, but also to make these characters get rid of Western stereotypes and become more flesh-and-blood people. Even though Marvel is a Western IP, there is still a lot that Chinese manufacturers can do in it.

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