Layoffs have hit Marvel Rivals dev team in North America, but why?

The North American development team for Marvel Rivals has just announced layoffs despite the game’s runaway success.

There’s simply no denying the great success Marvel Rivals has fostered in just a short amount of time.  Within three days of the game’s launch, developer NetEase announced it had reached 10 million players for Marvel Rivals. For context, the original Overwatch reached that number only after a month despite its great initial popularity.

Upon Season 1’s launch, Marvel Rivals peaked with over 642,000 concurrent players on Steam, firmly putting it in the top five spots on the platform, breaking yet another record for itself in mere months. And that’s not counting players on PlayStation and Xbox. Despite this success, NetEase has laid off the North American development team, much to the surprise of the game’s fans.

Marvel Rivals game director confirms North American team layoffs

Despite the success of Marvel Rivals, game director Thaddeus Sasser revealed his North American team layoffs. In a post on LinkedIn, Sasser discussed the incredible success of Marvel Rivals before sharing news of the layoffs. He plans to help the affected people find jobs by sharing their names on LinkedIn, starting with level designer Garry McGee.

It should be noted that Sasser was a game director for the NA team. The main creative director is Guangyun Chen, who is still with NetEase.

Susser clarified that the laid-off team was a research and development branch, focused on designing new mechanics and level design elements.  Susser states he would rehire McGee instantly should a role become available.  The post went viral on LinkedIn and sparked much discussion.

Many fans expressed disappointment with NetEase for the move, especially as Marvel Rivals is hardly struggling financially. Others were more curious as to why NetEase would even lay off the team in North America.  With high player counts and an active roadmap of content ahead, it does strike many players as strange.

NetEase may want development of Marvel Rivals in China moving forward

Reports suggest NetEase layoffs are part of an effort to keep most development work for Marvel Rivals in China.  Nick Calandra of Second Wind claims the six people laid off comprised the bulk of the North American development division. NetEase has not commented on the layoffs as of yet, but this wasn’t the first time the company has done something similar.

NetEase closed down Japan-based developer Ouka Studio on the same day its final game, Visions of Mana, launched in 2024.  Per Bloomberg, NetEase reportedly scaled back its investments in Japanese studios after the Chinese market experienced a resurgence. Although NetEase will still have connections with major players like Capcom and Bandai Namco, the long-term plan seems to be to keep most development work within China.

The expansion of the Chinese market may have played a role in NetEase’s decision to keep development internal. With the success of Chinese-made games such as Black Myth Wukong and Naraka: Bladepoint, NetEase may feel more confident relying on domestic teams instead of contributions from remote teams in other parts of the world, including in North America.

Regardless of the reasoning, the news highlights the volatility of the games industry in 2025, where even a mega-hit like Marvel Rivals won’t guarantee safety from layoffs for all members of a team.

Update 02/20/2025: NetEase has sinced released a statement acknowledging the layoffs, stating the cuts were part of a plan to optimize development. The company also clarified the core development team still remained active in China.

“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,” said the statement from NetEase.