Summary
Aether Studios has confirmed atEVO 2024that every character inRivals 2, including ones released after launch, will be completely free for every player.
Although platform fighters might seem like they’re in a bit of a rough spot withno Smash game on the horizon,MultiVersus' relaunch getting mixed reviews, andRiot’s planned League of Legends game getting cancelled, there’s still a lot of life in the genre thanks to Rivals 2. The sequel to the beloved Rivals of Aether has been in development for a long time,but is finally nearing its release at some point in 2024.
As we get closer to that unannounced release, Aether Studios has started to reveal even more about the game, including confirming at EVO 2024 that theninth character on its launch roster is none other than fan-favourite, Orcane. That wasn’t the only big news that the team shared during the event, though.
Every Character In Rivals 2 Will Be Free For Every Player
Following the announcement of Orcane returning for Rivals 2,it was revealed that every single post-launch character added to the game will be free for every player, which the Rivals Twitter account says will result in “no grinding” and “no paid DLC characters”. Considering how almost every other fighting game charges for additional characters, this is quite the move and one that has been received very positively.
The Twitter post confirming the news currently sits at more than 10,000 likes, which should go to show how happy fans are.
Aether Studios' choice was further elaborated on in a news post on EVO’s website. The post points out that the team knows the “lifeblood of a fighting game” comes from post-launch character releases, which is why the decision was made for them to be free. It also reconfirmed that Rivals 2 will have “tons of characters” following its launch in 2024.
Rivals of Aether creator Dan Fornace shared the news on Twitterand acknowledged that it’s a big risk for the game, but noted that it’s a sign of how fighting games could (and possiblyshould) be handled in the future. He also revealed that the game will offer cosmetics for players if they want to support the team in the long haul, which seems like a good compromise to getting every character for free.
