Despite its big success, Marvel Rivals’ director and others have been laid off
The hero shooter’s US-based developers have reportedly been hit with layoffs
A little over two months after its hugely successful launch, the US-based developers behind Marvel Rivals, including its game director, have reportedly been hit with layoffs.
Posting on his LinkedIn profile on Tuesday, NetEase’s California-based game director Thaddeus Sasser claimed that an unspecified number of Marvel Rivals‘ American developers had been let go, including himself.
“This is such a weird industry,” he wrote. “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games …and were just laid off!”
Sasser confirmed that level designer Gary McGee had been let go as part of the layoffs, while another designer, Jack Burrows, also confirmed that NetEase had let them go.
“Welp, just got laid off from my job working on Marvel Rivals with NetEase,” they wrote. “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.”
Although Marvel Rivals does not have staff credits, it’s understood that the game was developed by teams in China and Seattle, USA. According to Sasser’s LinkedIn, the Seattle team specialized in game and level design. Marvel Rivals’ most senior developer appears to be creative director Guangyun ‘Guangguang’ Chen, who often appears in developer diaries published by NetEase.
The surprise layoffs follow what appears to have been a hugely successful launch for the hero shooter. Since its debut in December, Marvel Rivals has enjoyed consistently high player numbers on Steam.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella noted on Tuesday that Rivals is currently among the top 5 games in the US weekly active users across PS5, XBS, and Steam, according to its own player engagement tracker.
“It has been a massive hit, and one of the few games that has been able to break through the live service wall,” he wrote. “I dunno, folks. I just don’t know.”
When Marvel Rivals released its first season last month, the game saw 644,269 players play the game concurrently, launching it to number 14 in Steam‘s all-time highest concurrent player counts.
This is higher than other popular titles like Apex Legends, Path of Exile 2, Helldivers 2, and GTA 5.
Commenting on the news, a Bungie employee claimed they’d heard the layoffs were part of a broad decision by NetEase to pull out of North America.
Last month, it was confirmed NetEase had split from Vancouver-based Worlds Untold, the studio it founded with Mass Effect writer Mac Walters in 2023, as well as Seattle-based Jar of Sparks, the studio founded in 2022 by Xbox veteran Jerry Hook.
Further reading
Cinematic director John Ebenger wrote: “The only insight I can possibly add is that I’d heard NetEase is pulling ALL investments out of NA. Started last year. Are these layoffs all the NA design team? If so then it appears no, it doesn’t matter how successful your game is, corporate policy created by geopolitics and trade relationships do.”
NetEase’s remaining North American studios include California-based BulletFarm, which wad founded last year with Call of Duty: Black Ops designer David Vonderhaar. Before that, NetEase founded Anchor Point with Control’s lead designer, with studios in Spain and Seattle.
NetEase also has an Austin, Texas-based studio, T-Minus Zero, which is creating a sci-fi MMO game, and Bad Brain Game Studios, the company co-founded in Canada by Ubisoft veterans.
Outside of North America, NetEase co-founded the new studios from Like A Dragon designer Toshihiro Nagoshi, and Resident Evil producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, and invested in Suda 51’s Grasshopper Manufacture.
VGC has asked NetEase for comment on this story.
