When I say “inspired them to release”, I should caveat that they’ve probably been planning this for a million years, and are merely framing it as a piece of direct fan service. Netease aren’t some jovial uncle, magnanimously handing you another cookie in the face of steady mithering. They are a massive corporation with growth forecasts and other financial flimstackery that defies my comprehension.

I appreciate the article mentioning this, even if its obvious enough once you think about it for a moment.

Anyway, this is really cool news. I haven’t actually played Rivals since the first season ended, so I don’t know how much better they’ve gotten at this since, but I was always disappointed by the lack of social interactions available between players. Something like overwatch has a multitude of emotes, sprays, and voice lines that you can fuck around with before or during a match and make temporary friends. Rivals on the other hand had just about nothing of the sort when I played it.