Marvel Contest of Champions Makes the Jump to PC Gaming

Ever since 2014, Marvel Contest of Champions has been thrilling fans worldwide, allowing them to pit a wide roster of heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe against one another in real-time combat. Over a decade later, Contest of Champions boasts a strong community bolstered by regular competitions updates, not only refining the gameplay and adding new characters, but new modes and in-game events. And all these years later, the game shows no signs of slowing down, with the mobile game making the leap to PCs and teasing even more ambitious updates in the months to come.

In November, Marvel Contest of Champions brought together fans of the game for the celebratory Summoners Fest at developer Kabam’s offices in Vancouver. Players from around the world competed for big prizes, with fans also streaming the competitions and announcements on Twitch. Den of Geek was invited to attend this year’s Summoners Fest and spoke to the developers behind the game about its legacy and what’s coming next.

Creating an Enduringly Popular Mobile Game

For any game to endure and remain a fan-favorite for over a decade, mobile or not, is an incredible feat and it’s one that Marvel Contest of Champions has maintained. Kabam CEO Simon Sim attributes this longevity to the team creating and refining a quality game, the title maintaining a strong community, and Kabam’s close relationship with Marvel in ensuring their iconic characters are well-represented in the game. Sim notes that the development team is not only proud of the game they’ve created but also enjoy playing it, appreciating its blend of RPG and fighting game elements that continues to improve upon its mechanics and gameplay depth.

“I believe all of us are strong Marvel fans. We really like our game. We hear the community’s voice and, at the same time, our voice. Whenever we apply new modes and content, we hear and adjust to that because the community is a strong reason for our success,” Sim observes in an interview with Den of Geek. “This unique skill-based RPG game that we created needs a lot of computer engineering and operational knowledge background. Year after year, we become stronger with that and a reason that we’ve maintained our game for 11 years.”

That sense of synergy with Marvel is something that’s existed in Contest of Champions since the beginning, with roster additions and in-game events reflecting major developments for Marvel’s other projects in film, television, and comic books. But the importance of the community built up around the game, constantly driving its renewed success with every update is something that its developers maintain clear sight of. If there’s any secret to why we’re still talking about and playing Contest of Champions more than the vast majority of other mobile games, it’s how big a role the community plays in the ongoing developments surrounding the game’s updates.

“The community itself is a game team member,” explains principal creative writer Tyler Nicol. “The fact that they are there is the reason why we can keep building, growing, and establishing this 11-year career of a game. It’s because they’re there cheering and helping with us. That hand-in-hand relationship is unique.”

A Thriving and Growing Community

Community really is the name of the game when it comes to Marvel Contest of Champions, and the robust and excited attendance at this year’s Summoners Fest is clear evidence of that. There is a familiarity and genuine friendship between many of the attendees and the developers, something that’s grown and deepened over time. Several people currently working at Kabam started out as Contest of Champions players and fans, including Sim who started playing the game when it first launched. 

“I’ve worked in other companies and know many different industry people, but the actual community leaders come join our company and we work together,” Sim shares. “Me and the Kabam team value the community a lot. Even internally, we have daily community sentiments shared. Weekly, we review what the community sentiments are – is it getting better or worse, why it’s getting better or worse, which parts they like. This is one of our very important processes.”

More than just the chance to celebrate Contest of Champions, events like Summoners Fest also give the developers the chance to see the game in an in-depth perspective that playtesting could never quite provide. Seeing dedicated fans who have mastered the gameplay mechanics in inventive ways from hours upon hours of practice helps the developers see the nuances of the game in a new light. This helps the developers plan how to build new Champions for the roster and other refinements that, in turn, offer fresh surprises to longtime players.

“Our players have taught us so much about the game,” admits RPG designer Stuart Urquhart. “Our players are responsible for so many interactions that they’ve discovered and that we’ve codified into actual rules. As that’s gone on, we’ve learned how to make more fun Champions. We also realize that our existing Champions still feel great, so we’ll go make and revisit them.” 

Bringing the Contest of Champions to PC

While Marvel Contest of Champions had historically been a mobile game for iOS and Android devices, the game made the leap to PCs this year, now available through Steam. For Kabam, the expansion from strictly mobile devices had been an ongoing development for years as the company mulled making the title a multiplatform experience for years. Developers noted that there was a vocal desire from PC users to have a version of the game available, with Kabam deciding to bring the title to the platform based on that demand.

“When you go back home and you’re sitting in front of a PC, you want to play with a controller on a bigger screen,” Sim observes. “We wanted a bigger screen and we decided it was time to try a PC expansion. It is a complicated and heavy investment. We already have more than 10 years of content to bring to the PC while maintaining its quality. It was not an easy journey, but if there’s a user demand, we need to provide our game.”

More than just a quick up-conversion, Kabam worked diligently to ensure Contest of Champions on PC retained the appeal and quality-level in its presentation for larger screens and button-mapping to keyboards or controllers. Fortunately, the game’s art style and impressive technical presentation for mobile devices translated to the PC experience, even with its longer lifespan. Though this still took considerable hard work, Kabam is proud of how the PC port of Contest of Champions looks and feels compared to its mobile counterpart.

“It took a ton of effort but we started out from some really great places. We already had a game that controlled incredibly well. We already had a game that looked amazing, especially given the time when it was created and the hardware that it was created with,” Urquhart adds. “We have that incredible advantage of having our game looking really good when you put it on a larger screen.”

The Future of Marvel Contest of Champions

Kabam has already teased what’s to come for the next several months of Contest of Champions, including the addition of the fan-favorite hero Blue Marvel to the roster. But beyond new playable characters, 2026 is already looking bright for the thriving mobile and PC game. The new year will see the release of the limited time event Dimensional Arcade: Concert of Champions to the mix, a rhythm game that has players control popular heroes as they battle incoming enemies on time to original music. Den of Geek was able to play an early build of Concert of Champions at Summoners Fest, and found it fun and accessible, taking down opponents as Dazzler to a genuinely catchy tune.

Between these new game modes, even more playable characters, and revamped progression system designed to welcome new players while rewarding established users, Marvel Contest of Champions definitely isn’t slowing down. And with the community playing such a key role in the game’s continued success and development, Kabam is making and refining a game for fans and by fans every step of the way.

Developed and published by Kabam, Marvel Contest of Champions is available on iOS and Android devices, as well PC through Steam.