NetEase Lays Off Marvel Rivals Developers in the US - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 19 February 2025 / 1,791 Views

NetEase Games has confirmed reports it has laid off people in Seattle that were working on Marvel Rivals.

"We recently made the difficult decision to adjust Marvel Rivals’ development team structure for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency for the game," a NetEase representative told PC Gamer.

"This resulted in a reduction of a design team based in Seattle that is part of a larger global design function in support of Marvel Rivals. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of those affected and will be treating them confidentially and respectfully with recognition for their individual contributions."

The number of employees laid off is not known, however, it was confirmed there are no more developers based in Seattle working on Marvel Rivals.

NetEase added the core development team in China "remains fully committed to delivering an exceptional experience" and that it is "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."

Level designer Garry McGee in a post on LinkedIn stated, "My team recently helped develop and launch Marvel Rivals, which turned out to be a bigger hit than any of us expected! Unfortunately my team was also laid off. Strange times all across the industry indeed. Though, with all that being said I’d like to reintroduce myself and talk about my role in Marvel Rivals!

"My title on the Marvel Rivals team was working as a Level Designer. Though working amongst my Seattle NetEase team I was able to be flexible with my creative and technical skillset. As a Level Designer I was tasked with coming up with and prototyping level layouts, mechanics, systems and more. Alongside all of that I developed and implemented Level Design tools for our team to streamline our work process, improving efficiency and workflow for the team.

"Working on the Marvel Rivals team was a fantastic experience where my team allowed me to support them in abilities beyond my direct role. When I saw a problem that slowed the team down, I proposed solutions to the team, to which they approved and trusted me to do so."

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.

3 Comments

shikamaru317 (on 19 February 2025)

The game seems to be a massive success, it has surpassed Overwatch 2 as the most played hero shooter on both Steam's and Xbox's charts, and is #5 most played on Steam overall. Surely the game must be hugely profitable, why layoff a bunch of developers who worked on it? Can the main team in China really keep up with the demand for new content for the game on their own? I guess we will find out.