The Marvel Rivals team has lost several developers. The Chinese giant NetEase conducted layoffs at the Seattle studio, reducing the staff to none who were involved with the game.
The layoffs were initially reported on LinkedIn by Thaddeus Sasser, the head of the American Marvel Rivals team.
"What a strange industry... My brilliant, talented team helped create the incredibly successful Marvel Rivals franchise for NetEase Games and was simply laid off," wrote Sasser.
Later, NetEase representatives confirmed to the media that the company had parted ways with all Marvel Rivals developers from Seattle. They explained that this was done for organizational reasons. Now Marvel Rivals is entirely controlled by the team in China, which was previously responsible for the game's development. NetEase hopes the changes will "increase development efficiency" for Marvel Rivals.
NetEase did not disclose the exact number of people laid off. According to Nick Calandra, the chief editor of Second Wind, the American Marvel Rivals team consisted of only six employees, so the extent of the layoffs was not as significant as it may have seemed.
As noted by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, NetEase has been significantly reducing its presence outside of China recently, including in the United States. For instance, it previously ended partnerships with the studios Worlds Untold and Jar of Sparks. The decision to lay off the Marvel Rivals team in Seattle could be part of this policy.
Marvel Rivals was released in December 2024 and quickly achieved success. Estimates suggest that in the first month, Marvel Rivals earned over $136 million. At its peak, more than 644,000 people played the game's Steam version simultaneously.