NetEase Games, the Chinese publisher behind the hit multiplayer hero shooter Marvel Rivals, has laid off its entire U.S.-based development studio, including director Thaddeus Sasser and level designers Jack Burrows and Garry McGee.
A mere two months after its launch, which explosively drew an estimated 20 million players in its first week and earned an estimated 130–136 million in first-month dollars over the game’s December 2023 launch, this move arrives as no surprise.
The Layoffs: Key Details
- Scope: All of the Seattle-based team at Anchor Point, NetEase’s U.S. studio, was let go. At least six staff members, including leadership, were reportedly affected.
- Announcement:: Sasser confirmed the layoffs on LinkedIn and praised his team’s work on creating a “successful new franchise” and lamenting the instability in the industry: “This is such a weird industry… Times are tough all over”
- Community Backlash: On Steam, players left thousands of negative reviews (over 300 in a single day alone), berating NetEase for terminating a team working on one of their best earning games.
The Meteoric Success Of Marvel Rivals
The free-to-play 6v6 shooter, which drew on the rivalry between Marvel heroes, quickly established itself as a live-service standout:
- Player Base: Regularly amongst Steam’s top 5 most-played games; 200,000+ daily concurrent players, both cross-platform dominance
- Competitive Impact: Rivals Overwatch 2 Forces Blizzard to Shuffle Its Game Plan Abandoning the live service model is just one way Overwatch 2 has forced Keller and his team to rethink their work.
- Content Updates: The Season 1.5 update was a great success, spontaneously adding Fantastic Four characters, yet again keeping players busy.
Why Layoffs Despite Success? Industry Speculation
- Cost-Cutting: Companies like NetEase may simply be moving to lower-cost development regions such as China or Brazil; The Seattle team’s increased operating costs probably made it a target.
- Shift in Strategies: NetEase has pulled funding from other Western studios (i.e., Ouka Studios for Visions of Mana) to refocus on its core projects
- Post-launch optimization: Once the game’s framework is in place, less staff will be needed to maintain it and the staff that follows it, especially when future releases are focused on cosmetics rather than features and/or modes.
Broader Industry Crisis
The layoffs are emblematic of a deepening trend in gaming:
- 25,000+ Jobs Lost So Far since 2023 : Companies like Unity and Ubisoft have already let go of more than 900 employees in just 2025.
- Live-Service Volatility: Some successful titles are tenuous. Both players and developers are wondering if the model is sustainable.
- Employee Advocacy: Sasser and Burrows are using LinkedIn to help departed colleagues find new jobs, drawing attention to the human toll of corporate decisions.
What’s Next for Marvel Rivals?
NetEase has not yet clarified how the layoffs will impact the game’s roadmap, but the game’s development will carry on under its team in China. Key concerns include:
- Content Pipeline: U.S. designers slow and steady on updates Job listings are still listed on the Barcelona branch, suggesting a restructure.
- Player Trust: The community fears communication will slip, as the U.S. team was well-regarded for frequent player interaction.
The Marvel Rivals layoffs reflect a hard truth: that even blockbuster success doesn’t guarantee job security in the gaming industry today. The change comes as NetEase shifts toward greater cost efficiency, and raises questions for the future of Western development within the ambit of global publishers. For the time being, both fans and developers are left to echo Sasser’s sentiment: “This is such a weird industry”
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