Even with the incredible launch Marvel Rivals developer NetEase sends US staff packing

By Liam Dawe - 19 Feb 2025 at 10:32 am UTC
Last updated: 19 Feb 2025 at 10:54 am UTC

Game didn't sell enough? Staff cuts. Game did incredible! Staff cuts. It seems there's just no winning for some people as Marvel Rivals developer NetEase sends US staff packing.

Some initial reports out there made it out to be seemingly bigger than it is, but no matter how you want to cut it, the developer of a huge hit game has shed some staff responsible for helping it succeed.

First coming in from a post on LinkedIn from Thaddeus Sasser, a Game Director based in the US for NetEase who said in a post:

This is such a weird industry...

My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games...

...and were just laid off!

Level designer Garry McGee also confirmed it in their own LinkedIn post:

Hello, hello! As the old saying goes, “All good things must come to an end.” My team recently helped develop and launch Marvel Rivals, which turned out to be a bigger hit than any of us expected! Unfortunately my team was also laid off. Strange times all across the industry indeed.

Pictured - Marvel Rivals

For some added context: in their official Discord server, the Community Manager has been responding to a bunch of users concerned about it:

Also in a statement to PC Gamer, NetEase confirmed the layoffs noting:

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.

Additionally NetEase said they remain committed to the game with their development team in China.

Marvel Rivals | Release Date: 6th December 2024

Official links:

Steam

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.

Tags: Proton, Steam Deck, Misc, Online Multiplayer, Steam | Apps: Marvel Rivals

7 Likes

About the author - Liam Dawe

I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
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11 comments

hardpenguin 3 days ago

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As I like to repeat:

I am happy to pay more for games as long as the profits go to the developers and not shareholders.

4 Likes, Who?

pleasereadthemanual 3 days ago

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I only know the name Netease as one of the formerly top sponsors for Blender...so this is what they do.

0 Likes

Jau 2 days ago

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I wonder if it's related to internation politics. After all U.S.A and China are entangled in a diplomatic arm wrestling match.

2 Likes, Who?

eggrole 2 days ago

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I am happy to pay more for games as long as the profits go to the developers and not shareholders.

While I suspect there are some people that would agree with this, I suspect even more would a.) begrudgingly pay more or b.) not be willing/able to pay more.

While stock prices and GDPs have been rising over the last decade or so, this does not reflect the true economic conditions of the working man. As you say, shareholders, and the executives, etc are the ones reaping the rewards. What we sometimes collectively call the 1% or 0.1%. If you look at net worth, those at the tippy-top's wealth has exploded while most people have stagnated (or even lost ground in terms of the working poor). And every excuse to cut jobs or raise prices will be used to maintain that trend it seems.

I don't think the answer is to ask for the profits to go where we'd like, but to instead punish the companies that engage in tactics we don't like. A general boycott is what I've called for for years now. There have been a lot of boycotts going one way or another toward specific companies, but almost every single corp engages in this, what I can only call expoitive behavior. The customers are the only one that really have the power to stop it but simply not buying products/services produced in a manner that we find unacceptable. And letting the corps know why we aren't buying. What that level of unacceptability is, is up to the individual.

Last edited by eggrole on 19 Feb 2025 at 11:07 am UTC

3 Likes, Who?

Ehvis 2 days ago

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Supporter Plus

Interesting is that MR has a much larger player base than Overwatch 2, but OW2 has a higher revenue on Steam. Clearly OW2 is still fairly effective at squeezing money out of their small player base. My guess is that MR managed to pull a lot of player from OW2 that were unhappy about the monetization there, but these aren't the people to get a "good amount" of money from. At the end of the day, live service business is weird. Only a small percentage of players can be "convinced" to spend large amounts of money.

1 Likes, Who?

ContainerRunner 2 days ago

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I think they are only optimizing their profits. Now that they have an established standing, they could reduce their team. Plus, I expect that salaries in China are lower than in the US, so they are more likely to expand the core team in their home country where they don't have a language barrier or other issues.

I only know the name Netease as one of the formerly top sponsors for Blender...so this is what they do.

Well they publish/develop mostly free-to-play titles, mobile games. However, they have some popular titles like Once Human, Diablo Immortal or Naraka Bladepoint. Besides they developed some mobile ports of popular games like Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. However, other than that, you missed nothing.

1 Likes, Who?

Sakuretsu 2 days ago

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There's just no winning for the workers only for the pieces of crap that only exist to own things.

0 Likes

R Daneel Olivaw 2 days ago

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Supporter

NetEase is controlled by the CCP. This could have to do with the political waters, but maybe not.

In October 2020, the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered NetEase to undergo rectification and temporarily suspend certain comment functions, after censors found inappropriate comments on the news app.

1 Likes, Who?

apocalyptech 2 days ago

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I love that little 4AM detail as well. Not only are they engaging in malicious layoffs so their c-suite can buy more yachts, but the people who are still there get to constantly crunch to keep the game alive. What an effed up industry.

1 Likes, Who?

Purple Library Guy 2 days ago

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I also wonder about the politics. Apparently the US government (if you can call it that these days) has been threatening to ban Chinese games. No, really. Will they do anything about it? Who knows? But I can imagine if I'm a Chinese company and I have the option to pull my operation in the US in an orderly way where I get all the data transferred over and stuff, I might go for it just to avoid some future scenario where it gets shut down by edict and things are not so controlled.

3 Likes, Who?

EthanTheHuman 2 days ago

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New User

Really not liking the minimising / dehumanising the CM is doing in those statements. "Please focus on our new characters instead of fixating on the people we laid off". So weird.

0 Likes

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