UPDATED: Despite Pulling Massive Numbers, NetEase Just Laid Off Leadership And Teams Working On Marvel Rivals

Look, when a game is doing really poorly or it's on its last legs, you kind of expect to see layoffs. 2024 and 2025, though, have seen the rules on these things tossed aside with major gaming companies laying off employees to a staggering degree. Apparently, when your hero-shooter pulls in massive numbers like Marvel Rivals has, you still aren't exactly safe.

According to a post on LinkedIn, Game Director Thaddeus Sasser confirmed, "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!"

Sasser goes on to extol the virtues of Garry McGee and the technical designing experience McGee could bring to any team that's looking for staff. I would expect Sasser to continue posting on behalf of other employees impacted by the layoffs.

Level Designer Jack Burrows also confirmed they were impacted saying, "Welp, just got laid off from my job working on Marvel Rivals with NetEase. Was an enormous pleasure to work with my American coworkers who join me in this sad culling. Just couldn't dodge that big boot I guess, no matter how big the success of the gig."

Layoffs seemed to be centered around the North American team supporting Marvel Rivals, but we've reached out to NetEase regarding the situation and will update this post as we hear more on the level of impact, what specific departments were reduced, and what the remaining team looks like.

This certainly wasn't the game I thought I'd be reporting on next when it came to layoffs, though.

UPDATE 2/19/2025: NetEase has confirmed the layoffs and advised that this was due to "organizational" reasons and stated that the layoffs should not be taken as the company investing less in the game. We've also confirmed our thoughts above and now know the layoffs were, in fact, NA-centered as part of the team's overseas consolidation. The below statement is what the company is sending to all who inquired:

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.