Without a doubt, Marvel Rivals has taken the gaming world by storm this year, attracting a massive player base, particularly on Steam. Yet, in a surprising turn of events, the development company behind it, NetEase, has made the decision to lay off some members of its Seattle studio team who contributed to the game.
Thaddeus Sasser, the game director, took to LinkedIn to address these layoffs. In his post, he highlighted that level designer Garry McGee was among those impacted. This news was further confirmed by another level designer, Jack Burrows, who shared a similar statement on the platform.
Sasser’s comments on the situation reflected the often unpredictable nature of the gaming industry. “It’s such a bewildering field,” he expressed, “My exceptional and skilled team just successfully launched a major new franchise, Marvel Rivals, for NetEase Games… and yet, they’re facing layoffs!”
He went on to note that the team had been instrumental in crafting fresh level design and gameplay mechanics for the superhero shooter, showcasing their innovative contributions.
As these developments unfolded, Polygon reached out to NetEase for an official response regarding these layoffs and has promised to update readers as soon as more information becomes available.
Despite this behind-the-scenes drama, Marvel Rivals continues to thrive, standing strong as one of the top five most-played titles on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Steam, based on statistics from Circana, shared by industry expert Mat Piscatella. It consistently remains a favorite on Steam, often hosting around 200,000 players simultaneously. Excitingly, the game is set to release the second half of its inaugural season soon, bringing new heroes like the Thing and Human Torch into the mix.
