The video game industry is no stranger to layoffs. Good people lose their jobs far too frequently, and even though, most of the time, layoffs hit studios that are underperforming, that’s not always the case. In fact, NetEase Games, developer of the hero shooter Marvel Rivals, just let people go.
Thaddeus Sasser, a director for Marvel Rivals, took to LinkedIn to announce that he and his Seattle-based team were being laid off. “This is such a weird industry…,” he wrote in a post. “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games… …and were just laid off!”
Sasser used the rest of his post to shout out a member of his team, Garry McGee, who he credits with developing “level design tools and gameplay mechanics” that were instrumental to their efforts. It appears that Sasser will continue to use his profile to praise other colleagues as they try to find work following the layoffs.
Jack Burrows, a level designer for Marvel Rivals, also shared his story on social media. “Welp, just got laid off from my job working on Marvel Rivals with NetEase,” he 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.”
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What makes this situation so strange is that the success of Marvel Rivals isn’t really up for debate. It did great numbers on launch, with hundreds of thousands of people playing the game concurrently. The playerbase has remained consistent into 2025 as NetEase slowly rolls out its Season 1 content. In fact, as the former NetEase team members took to social media to announce their departures, Marvel Rivals was posting about the next two characters coming to the game, Human Torch and The Thing.
It’s possible that, since Marvel Rivals is free, the revenue just isn’t there at this point, but between all of the skins that hit the item shop and the battle pass, it’s hard to believe there’s not enough money rolling in to keep the people who made the game what it is around. After all, Fortnite uses a similar model and, despite recently celebrating its seventh birthday, continues to be one of the most consistent games on the market.
At this point, NetEase has yet to address the layoffs, and it’s possible it never will. However, communication has been a big part of the developer’s game plan so far, with the powers that be consistently taking feedback to heart. If NetEase wants to continue to be seen in a positive light, it’s important to address a situation like this head-on.
Marvel Rivals is available now.
