NetEase Responds to Shocking Marvel Rivals Dev Team Layoffs: “We Appreciate the Hard Work”

Marvel Rivals has quickly become one of the most popular games of the year, attracting hundreds of thousands of players on Steam alone. However, despite its success, developer NetEase has unexpectedly laid off a team that worked on the game from its Seattle-based studio.

Game director Thaddeus Sasser shared the news on LinkedIn, expressing his frustration over the situation. In his post, he specifically mentioned level designer Garry McGee as one of the affected employees. Level designer Jack Burrows also confirmed the layoffs in a separate post.

“This is such a weird industry,” Sasser wrote. “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games […] and were just laid off!”

According to Sasser, the team was responsible for creating new-level design and gameplay mechanics for the game, contributing to its overall success.

NetEase finally decided to speak up and explain the layoffs. Apparently, the company recently decided to restructure the development team for Marvel Rivals, leading to layoffs at its Seattle-based studio. According to the company, this move was made for “organizational reasons” and to improve development efficiency. The affected team was part of a larger global design function working on 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. 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 superhero characters, maps, features, and content to ensure an engaging live service experience for our worldwide player base.

NetEase has been cutting jobs and rethinking its overseas game studios. The layoffs at Marvel Rivals’ western team are part of this trend.

Last year, NetEase-backed studio Worlds Untold put its work on hold. Last month, Jar of Sparks, another NetEase-supported studio, stopped working on its first game and started looking for a new publisher. Recently, Swedish studio Liquid Swords also had layoffs before even releasing a game.

These changes show that NetEase is scaling back its international game development efforts.

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