Marvel rivals team faces layoffs despite game’s success

In a surprising move, Chinese gaming giant NetEase has reportedly laid off key members of the Marvel Rivals development team, including Game Director Thaddeus Sasser. The layoffs, first reported by Kotaku, came just as the game continues to dominate Steam’s charts, maintaining a top-ten position since its December launch. Notably, the job cuts appear to have only affected North American employees, with no confirmed layoffs in China. The total number of impacted employees remains unclear.

Sasser took to LinkedIn to express his frustration, calling the decision perplexing given the game’s strong performance. “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games… and were just laid off,” he wrote.

Game artist Del Walker echoed the sentiment on Bluesky, questioning the logic behind the move. “You make one of the most successful LIVE service titles of the generation, despite the world telling you LIVE service is dead—and still get laid off? What are we even doing at this point?”

The layoffs coincided with the release of Marvel Rivals’ first major content update for Season 1, further deepening the confusion surrounding NetEase’s decision. The game has been well-received for its engaging Marvel lore and fast-paced team-based gameplay, making it one of the rare success stories in the struggling live-service genre.

Industry analysts speculate that ongoing U.S. tariffs on China-based companies could be contributing to job cuts in overseas gaming studios. However, NetEase denied that its international investments are being scaled back, telling VentureBeat that the layoffs were part of a broader business evaluation.

"For 2025, we have an extensive pipeline of titles in development across multiple genres, including FragPunk and Ananta," NetEase stated. "At the end of 2024, we made the strategic decision to scale down two of our studios. This was purely based on business evaluations and does not reflect a broader reduction in our overseas portfolio."

Despite the shake-up, Marvel Rivals remains a strong performer, currently ranking sixth on Steam’s top seller list. Fans and industry insiders, however, are left wondering what the future holds for the team behind one of the most successful live-service launches in recent memory.