Despite the remarkable success of Marvel Rivals, which amassed over 20 million players within its first two weeks of release in December 2024, NetEase has laid off its entire Seattle-based development team. Game director Thaddeus Sasser expressed his surprise on LinkedIn, stating, “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!”

Level designer Jack Burrows also confirmed his layoff, remarking, “Welp, just got laid off from my job working on Marvel Rivals with NetEase.”

In response to these developments, NetEase issued a statement to PC Gamer, explaining that the layoffs were part of an effort “to optimize development efficiency for the game.” The company emphasized that the core development team in China remains fully committed to delivering an exceptional experience and is investing more into the evolution and growth of Marvel Rivals.

This decision has raised concerns among players, many of whom have expressed their disappointment through negative reviews on platforms like Steam. Despite the layoffs, Marvel Rivals continues to perform exceptionally well, regularly attracting around 200,000 concurrent players and introducing new heroes such as the Thing and Human Torch in its ongoing first season.