Marvel Contest of Champions: Learning the Secret to the Game's Longevity from Michael Recchia at SDCC 2026
Back in 2014, Marvel Contest of Champions launched. A dozen years later, the game is still going strong, regularly adding new content and surprises for fans. At this year's San Diego Comic-Con, we had a chance to catch up with Community Manager Michael Recchia (AKA Karate Mike AKA Kabam-oasaurus Rex) about the game, its fans, and much more.
Benji Breitbart: First, what's it like to be here back at Comic-Con?
Michael Recchia: Oh, dude, it's fantastic. I mean, we've been here since Wednesday night. We have had a line out the door and wrapped around the corner. You saw it coming in, I'm sure. Wrapped around the corner non-stop 24/7 from opening to close. That thing was lined up down the hall at 9:20 a.m. As soon as the doors opened, everyone came rushing in, super excited to spin the wheel, play the game, get their exclusive pin. We're seeing a lot of people come back all four days so they can have the whole collection. And our players have been fantastic.
BB: You've been around for a bit, so what's it like to see the connection the fans have with the game?
MR: I'm very passionate about our players and how they interact in the community. It's one of the best parts of this game. We're very community-first, we're very driven in that direction and seeing them actually interact in person and like share their experiences and their favorite champions, what crystals they're opening, actually in person, right? It's one of the best things to see.
BB: It's a busy area and you're talking to new gamers as well. They can sign up here and get involved too, right?
MR: Absolutely. And you know, we're in the Restart Gaming Lounge and there are a couple other Marvel games here as well. So, we're at Comic-Con, we're in San Diego. This is the time to be here if you're a Marvel fan. Not every Marvel fan has played Marvel Contest of Champions, right? But they see the sign, they see we have a couple Marvel pins, they come and check it out. We get them into the game. We've had so many people download the game and come back to us the next a couple of days saying that they've been playing it non-stop. They're loving the flow, they're loving seeing what champions they can acquire. So, it's just fantastic to get some new eyes on the game and just grow the community even stronger.
BB: In a week where you have Spider-Man: Brand New Day coming and then later on this year, Doomsday, it seems like you're sort of in a Marvel revival age on the entertainment side. How do you guys look at what Marvel's doing — whether it's in comics or movies or TV — and try and be inspired by that to bring to the game?
MR: That's a great question. Now, obviously, like I said, most of our players are Marvel fans in general. A Marvel fan isn't going to be exclusive just to MCOC. They're going to love the MCU, they're going to like the other Marvel games, too. I personally believe that if all of Marvel is doing well, we're doing well, right? A Marvel fan wants to enjoy the fandom that they're in.
So, the MCU is part of that. Now, Doomsday is, of course, extremely exciting. That's a bit down the road. But Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that's coming up very, very soon. And just yesterday, we announced that we're reworking a Spider-Man character in-game to be one of the strongest cosmic champions that we have. It's a character that our players have loved for a while, but hasn't been super powerful. So, now they get that chance to make him even stronger. So, when we have the chance to tie into real-world events like Brand New Day, we're going to take that opportunity so our players can kind of have that whole Marvel ecosystem going on.
BB: What's also fun about it is that the game has characters that are in the comics. Obviously, there's only a couple movies a year, but you know, comics come out every week. What's it like to work with and bring characters that maybe those familiar with just the movies and television aren't as aware of, but maybe inspires them to even get to a local comic book shop?
MR: Yeah, of course. So, you know, we have 350 champions in the game. One of the largest Marvel rosters in any Marvel game and some of my favorite editions are those niche characters you're talking about, like Red Goblin, specifically Immortal Hulk, Immortal Abomination, the kind of champions that get our Marvel fans who might be more on the casual side to say, "Hey, that's really interesting. Where's this from?" Read the bio on the champion, look them up, download the comic book and just get deeper into Marvel as a whole.
BB: And the game's always evolving too. You talked about Spider-Man. Are there any other updates that you're excited about that either happened recently or that are coming down in the near future?
MR: Oh my God, yeah. So, we're 12 years down the line, almost 12 years in December, we're still adding massive new features to the game. In 2026 alone, we've launched four game-changing features. We have two new game modes in Coliseum and Towers and two groundbreaking champion roster updates with Collectives and 7-Star Ascension. Towers just launched last month and we're showing it off here today at Comic-Con with our new event towers that are Spider-Man themed, centered around Brand New Day. And the reason why I'm saying all of that is because we're just always innovating at any opportunity that we have. Four new features in six months on a 12-year game is a massive undertaking, especially when there's so much to build off of.
BB: One of the things that some people get a little skittish with mobile games is they come and go. Yet, you guys have been around for a bit, which makes me feel old, but it's okay. You've had fans who, you know, started when they're in teens and now they're now they now they may be having children of their own.
MR: It's crazy. We actually have a guy at the booth right now who's playing with his kid who's about eight years old. We were talking and he was telling me that while his wife was at the hospital giving birth, he was in the waiting room playing Marvel Contest of Champions. He said he created an account for his son pretty much the day he was born and gave it to him when he was like five or six. It's kind of like a family thing. And you know, one thing we've said many times over the years is we're very committed to Marvel Contest of Champions. We're very committed to keeping this going in the long run. We love this game. It's Kabam's flagship property and we're looking to take this game far into the future.
BB: To wrap up — you're a community manager, you're here being exposed to fans. Is there any story that you've got to hear from one of your players that really made you realize the impact of the game?
MR: Yes, a lot actually. It's one of those games where the community is so powerful and, you know, we host our monthly live streams every month. They hit 40,000 plus viewers every four weeks. We have some very dedicated fans. We had two guys drive up yesterday four hours. They said they just wanted to take a picture with me. That's something I couldn't even believe. We were talking to them, and they were saying, "Sometimes I've been in a really hard place, this game really got me through it. You guys have no idea the impact that this community has done for me."
So many Marvel fans and so many gamers in general, they're not the most extroverted people, right? They're more introverted. They don't go out as much. Sometimes it's hard to make friends that way. So, when you're put into an alliance with 29 other people, you're playing the game together, you have similar goals, you're growing together as a community and that becomes almost like a second family. And that's something that we hear from so many of our players and why we're so focused on building our community to be as strong as it is.