News of layoffs at developer NetEase shocked the internet this week as multiple members of the Marvel Rivals team confirmed they'd been let go. Game director Thaddeus Sasser and level designer Jack Burrows were two former employees who revealed they had been let go by NetEase, with the company confirming the layoffs today in an official statement.
A NetEase representative explained that the layoffs, which mostly affected the Seattle-based design team, were made to "optimize development efficiency for the game."
"We recently made the difficult decision to adjust Marvel Rivals’ development team structure for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency for the game," a NetEase representative said. "This resulted in a reduction of a design team based in Seattle that is part of a larger global design function in support of Marvel Rivals. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of those affected and will be treating them confidentially and respectfully with recognition for their individual contributions."
The layoffs also sparked concerns among the Marvel Rivals community that NetEase could be pulling back its support of the game, a story we've seen unfold far too often in the gaming industry — especially with live-service games. NetEase assured fans that they remain "fully committed" to supporting Marvel Rivals and, despite the layoffs, are actually investing more in the game's evolution.
"We want to reassure our fanbase that the core development team for Marvel Rivals, which continues to be led by Lead Producer Weicong Wu and Game Creative Director Guangyun Chen in Guangzhou, China, remains fully committed to delivering an exceptional experience," the statement continues. "We are investing more, not less, into the evolution and growth of this game. We’re excited to deliver new super hero characters, maps, features, and content to ensure an engaging live service experience for our worldwide player base.”
Marvel Rivals launched in December of last year and has been a resounding success by all measures. Despite receiving mixed reviews at launch, the game reached a whopping 10 million players within 72 hours and surpassed 20 million players by mid-December. Even as a free-to-play game, it's been estimated by Chinese games industry research website GameLook that Marvel Rivals generated a revenue of about $135 million in its first month. It's unclear if Marvel Rivals is still generating this sort of consistent revenue, which could explain why NetEase is trimming costs to improve efficiency, but the in-game player count remained steady through its first month.
NetEase has pretty ambitious plans for Marvel Rivals, previously promising a new hero every month-and-a-half to keep the player base engaged and excited. Season 1 of Marvel Rivals kicked off in January and introduced Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman. Marvel's First Family will become complete this week with the mid-season update when it adds Human Torch and The Thing.
The gaming industry has experienced mass layoffs over the past couple of years. Dating back to 2023, over 20,000 jobs have been lost, spread across the largest gaming publishers, including Electronic Arts, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Ubisoft, Riot Games, and Microsoft, to name just a few.