Marvel Rivals, a popular multiplayer shooter, was developed by NetEase’s teams in North America and China. Despite the game’s very successful launch, the American developers have announced mass layoffs.
Marvel Rivals, a popular multiplayer shooter, was developed by NetEase’s teams in North America and China. Despite the game’s very successful launch, the American developers have announced mass layoffs.
«My stellar, talented team just helped create the incredibly successful new Marvel Rivals franchise for NetEase Games… and we just got fired!», - wrote Thaddeus Sasser, NetEase’s game director, on LinkedIn.
Since its launch in December, Marvel Rivals has attracted over 20 million players and grossed $136 million in its first month. It is estimated that if the same dynamics are maintained throughout the year, the project could gross $1.36 billion. However, this turned out to be not enough to avoid layoffs.
«We recently made the difficult decision to restructure the Marvel Rivals development team for organizational reasons and to optimize game development efficiency. This resulted in the reduction of the design team in Seattle, which is part of a larger global design function supporting Marvel Rivals», — NetEase said.
The company said that the game’s development will continue to be handled by the core team in China. NetEase, Inc. is a Chinese internet company founded by Ding Lei in June 1997, which is currently one of the largest in the field of video game development. It opened an American studio, led by Bethesda and BioWare veterans, in August 2023.
Players reacted negatively to the news, and began review-bombing Marvel Rivals' ratings on Steam. Of the approximately 1,000 reviews posted today, over 300 were negative, The Verge reports.
Earlier, German game company Crytek, best known for the Crysis series and the development of the CRYENGINE engine, announced that it was laying off 60 employees. It also suspended development of Crysis 4 to focus on supporting the shooter Hunt: Showdown 1896.
