Marvel Rivals Devs Laid Off Despite The Game's Huge Success

Several Marvel Rivals developers at NetEase Games have been laid off, according to the game's director, Thaddeus Sasser.

Over on LinkedIn, Sasser said, "My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games...and were just laid off!" All six of Marvel Rivals' America-based devs were reportedly let go, two of whom were level designers.

These layoffs in particular come as a surprise given that Marvel Rivals has been incredibly successful and popular since its launch in December. During its first 72 hours on the market, Marvel Rivals hit 10 million players worldwide. The number doubled the following week to 20 million players.

Marvel Rivals is among the top five games in the United States across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox Series X|S. It's also one of the very few live-service games that has broken through the oversaturated genre, so the layoffs are puzzling. GameSpot contacted NetEase for comment on the decision and received the following statement:

"We recently made the difficult decision to adjust Marvel Rivals’ development team structure for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency for the game. 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.

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. 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."

While NetEase Games isn't closing entirely and Marvel Rivals is continuing to add new playable characters, NetEase is reportedly massively scaling back on video games, especially single-player ones. The timing is especially egregious since NetEase recently revealed that the other two Fantastic Four characters, The Human Torch and The Thing, are joining the roster later this week.

The Swedish studio Liquid Swords also laid off developers this week due to prioritizing "long-term sustainability." The studio was founded by former Avalanche Studios CCO Chistofer Sundberg in 2020, and has yet to release its first title.