NetEase lays off Marvel Rivals U.S. team despite massive success

NetEase has laid off several U.S. developers on Marvel Rivals.

On Tuesday, game director Thaddeus Sasser took to LinkedIn to reveal that he and his team have lost their jobs.

“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!” wrote Sasser. He went on to praise his coworkers and advocated for them to be rehired elsewhere, starting with level designer Garry McGee.

In a statement to Game File, NetEase confirmed that it had cut Sasser’s Seattle-based studio to “adjust Marvel Rivals‘ development team structure and to optimize development efficiency for the game.” The company didn’t specify how many people were let go, but Second Wind‘s Nick Calendra reports that it was six people.

NetEase added that it wants to “reassure” fans that it remains committed to Marvel Rivals and that its “core” development team in Guangzhou, China, helmed by game creative director Guangyun Chen and lead producer Weicong Wu, is unaffected by this restructuring. “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,” the company said.

Daniel Ahmad, a well-known analyst at Niko Partners who specializes in the Asian market, also noted on X (Twitter) that the Rivals job cuts are “part of a broader reconsideration of NetEase’s overseas investments and studios.” This has included the Chinese conglomerate pulling funding from nascent North American studios like Vancouver’s Worlds Untold (led by Mass Effect writer and creative director Mac Walters) and Seattle-based Jar of Sparks (headed by Halo and Destiny veteran Jerry Hook).

Worth noting this round of layoffs only impacts the team in the US, not the core dev team in China.

It’s part of a broader reconsideration of NetEase’s overseas investments and studios. The firm has pulled funding from a number of overseas teams over the past year. https://t.co/Ivy8KjRdcS

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) February 18, 2025

Still, it’s a bad look, as Ahmad also notes, for a company as massive as NetEase to be making any cuts related to a game as popular as Marvel Rivals. At a time when most new multiplayer games struggle or fail entirely, Rivals has stood out for making a gargantuan hit out of a Marvel spin on the Overwatch-style “hero shooter” framework. Since launching in December, Rivals has surpassed 20 million players and is consistently top of the charts on Steam (fourth at the time of writing).

NetEase also seemed to be attempting to bury this news under a new promotional wave for highly anticipated characters The Human Torch and The Thing of The Fantastic Four, who come as part of a Season 1.5 update on February 21st. This marketing material also featured a new map and tease for fan-favourite vampire hunter Blade.

Image credit: NetEase/Marvel