Despite Marvel Rivals having been about as big a hit as you could really hope for since it arrived on the scene late last year, publisher NetEase has just laid off staff from the game’s US development team.
News of these job cuts broke when Rivals devs at NetEase’s Seattle-based studio began revealing they’d been let go, with the likes of game director Thaddeus Sasser plus level designers Garry McGee and Jack Burrows posting on LinkedIn about having been laid off.
“This is such a weird industry,” Sasser wrote, “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games… and were just laid off!”
NetEase has since released a statement confirming that layoffs at its US Rivals studio have taken place, but it doesn’t appear to have shared exact numbers in terms of those affected, but has confirmed to PC Gamer that Marvel Rivals now has no Seattle-based developers working on it. The Chinese publisher wrote that the “reduction” of the Seattle-based team was a “difficult decision” taken “to optimize development efficiency for the game”.
“We appreciate the hard work and dedication of those affected and will be treating them confidentially and respectfully with recognition for their individual contributions,” NetEase continued, adding that Rivals’ “core development team” in China “remains fully committed to delivering an exceptional experience”.
“We are investing more, not less, into the evolution and growth of this game,” it concluded, “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.”
If you’re wondering why NetEase has suddenly jettisoned a bunch of devs that helped it make what’s been an undeniably successful game to this point, it appears that this may not be a call that’s come in isolation, with Daniel Ahmad – games industry analyst at Niko Partners – having tweeted that it’s “part of a broader reconsideration of NetEase’s overseas investments and studios”.
“The firm has pulled funding from a number of overseas teams over the past year,” he added, writing that “the reevaluation, which is still ongoing, is being undertaken for multiple reasons.”
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