American team working on Marvel Rivals fired

NetEase's American division, which was responsible for level design in the cooperative shooter Marvel Rivals, has been laid off despite the game's stable popularity in the top 5 on Steam and other platforms.

Although layoffs in the gaming industry are not unusual, the layoff of the Marvel Rivals team, which garnered 10 million unique players in just three days after release and had over 600 thousand online players on Steam after the first season, seems strange.

Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research and Analysis at Niko Partners, told BlueSky that the dismissal of the American team is part of NetEase's long-term strategy to reduce investments in foreign studios. Such actions of NetEase are aimed at strengthening the key development team in China, where no layoffs were made.

NetEase also commented and confirmed the dismissal in a commentary to journalist Stephen Totilo.

"We recently made the difficult decision to adjust Marvel Rivals' development team structure for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency for the game. This resulted in a reduction of a design team based in Seattle that is part of a larger global design function in support of Marvel Rivals. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of those affected and will be treating them confidentially and respectfully with recognition for their individual contribution," the company said in a comment.

NetEase also assures players that the dismissal of American employees will not affect the further development of Marvel Rivals, as the main development team is located in China. All promised features and further updates will be released as planned.