Marvel Rivals Experiences Staff Layoffs During Mid-Season
A support developer team based in Seattle has been reported to be laid off by NetEase even as Marvel Rivals reaches #2 on the top played games on Steam right now. The community has reacted to the news, with many expressing worries about the state of game development. Here’s what we know regarding the Marvel Rivals layoffs and why it happened.
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Seattle-based Developers on LinkedIn
Two notable game developers within NetEase’s US division announced on their individual LinkedIn accounts that the larger company laid them off. Thaddeus Sasser, Jack Burrows, and Garry McGee are some of the support developers who worked for NetEase Games as the level designers for Marvel Rivals. Although the Seattle-based team was shut down, the main development team for Marvel Rivals in China has not experienced any such layoffs that we know of.
Marvel Rivals Community Outraged
The game’s community found this decision to be controversial as many found the layoffs, especially when the game is at its best content period, to be a greedy move from NetEase. Some players have taken to review-bombing the game on Steam and a few other game clients.
This also sparked some worries for the future of other talented game developers losing their jobs, even when working on a highly profitable game. This news, compounded with the fears of AI taking over game development, has made the future of gaming uncertain.
Layoffs: A Rising Trend in The Games Industry
Many companies that publish or develop live service games such as Sony, Riot Games, EA, and other publishers, have been seeing massive layoffs for their employees, as a result of massive projects failing or becoming too expensive to maintain. However, in NetEase’s case, the layoffs do not seem justified as the game continues to be a massive success for both PC and console markets.
