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NetEase Games has recently laid off its Seattle-based development team for the popular game Marvel Rivals, despite the game's significant success since its December 2024 launch. The company stated that this decision was made to "optimize development efficiency" and restructure the team for organizational reasons. The core development team in China remains intact and committed to enhancing the game with new content, including additional superhero characters, maps, and features, to maintain an engaging experience for players worldwide.
Marvel Rivals has achieved remarkable milestones, attracting over 20 million players within days of its release and consistently ranking among the top five games based on weekly active users across platforms like PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Steam. Despite this success, the layoffs have affected key team members, including game director Thaddeus Sasser and level designer Jack Burrows. Sasser expressed his surprise on LinkedIn, highlighting the team's contributions to the game's achievements and noting the unexpected nature of the layoffs.
đź’– We are thrilled to announce that 20 million players have joined Marvel Rivals! Our gratitude for each of you is immense!
— Marvel Rivals (@MarvelRivals) December 17, 2024
🥰The spray is ready now, and we also included this number in the spray! Thank you for helping us achieve this milestone.
⏲️Log in from December 20th,… pic.twitter.com/tr0k6NYZ95
Industry analysts have offered insights into NetEase's decision. Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research and Insights at Niko Partners, mentioned that the layoffs are part of a broader reevaluation by NetEase, which began in 2023, affecting studios in Japan and the US. This strategic shift aims to consolidate development efforts within China, potentially to streamline operations and reduce costs.
The gaming community has reacted strongly to the news, with many players expressing their dissatisfaction through negative reviews on platforms like Steam. Out of approximately 1,000 reviews posted on a single day, over 300 were negative, reflecting the community's disapproval of the layoffs despite the game's popularity.
While NetEase assures that the game's development and future content updates will continue as planned, the decision to lay off a successful team has raised questions about the company's strategic direction and its impact on the game's ongoing success.
