Despite the game’s successful launch, Marvel Rivals’ development team, including its game director, was fired. NetEase said in a statement to the media on Wednesday that the layoffs affected an unspecified number of NetEase’s design teams in Seattle. The layoffs come more than two months after the release of NetEase’s free-to-play hero shooter Marvel Rivals. The game’s popularity soared upon its launch, attracting more than 10 million players within 72 hours of its launch.
Marvel Rivals design team fired
Marvel Rivals game director Thadeus Sasser first confirmed news of the layoffs, posting on LinkedIn that his team had been laid off.
“This is such a weird industry…” Sasser began his post. “My amazing, talented team had just helped NetEase Games launch a hugely successful new series, Marvel Rivals… and then got fired!”
While the number of employees affected by the layoffs is unclear, level designers Gary MacGee and Jack Burrows confirmed in separate LinkedIn posts that they had been laid off.
“My team recently helped develop and launch Marvel Rivals, which turned out to be more popular than any of us expected! Unfortunately my team was also laid off. The industry as a whole is definitely going through strange times,” McGee said in his post.
“Hey guys! Well, I just got laid off from my job at NetEase on Marvel Rivals. It was a privilege to work with my American colleagues who were involved in this sad elimination with me. I guess no matter how successful the show is, there’s no way I can hide from that big boot,” Burrows said.
In a statement to VGC and other media outlets, NetEase confirmed the layoffs and said the decision was made for “organizational reasons.”
“For organizational reasons, we recently made the difficult decision to adjust the Marvel Rivals development team structure in order to optimize the game’s development efficiency,” the statement said. “This has resulted in a reduction of the design team in Seattle, which is part of the larger global design function supporting Marvel Rivals. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the affected individuals and will treat them with confidentiality and respect, and recognize their individual contributions.”
Marvel Rivals is an Overwatch-style hero shooter that launched on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X on December 6, 2024, and quickly became a phenomenon. The game attracted 20 million players within 11 days of release. This hero shooting game features many Marvel superheroes, including Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk, Star-Lord, Venom, Wolverine, etc., who will all participate in team-based 6v6 area shootouts.