Entire Seattle-Based ‘Marvel Rivals’ Development Team Laid Off By NetEase, Gamers Are Stunned

Source: NetEase / Marvel Rivals

Marvel Rivals is one of the most popular games out at the moment, so it’s shocking to hear that its development team is experiencing layoffs.

Spotted on Insider Gaming, multiple social media reports state that NetEase has laid off Marvel Rivals’ entire development team. Marvel Rivals’ game director Thaddeus Sasser revealed the sad and surprising news in a post on LinkedIn he shared on Tuesday afternoon.

“This is such a weird industry…” Sasser wrote. “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games…and were just laid off!”

According to Sasser, NetEase laid off the Seattle-based team that was tasked with “coming up with new level design mechanics, gameplay mechanics, and so on.”

Level designer Garry McGee, one of the affected developers, and level designer Jack Burrows, who confirmed the news via his post on LinkedIn, were among those who lost their jobs.

Social Media Is Stunned

According to Circana data from industry analyst Mat Piscatella, Marvel Rivals is one of the top five games with the most active users across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Steam, so it’s not surprising that social media is stunned by the news.

“Marvel Rivals is the hottest game out rn, just revealed 2 banger characters, and people still got laid off. The industry is cooked,” one user on X, formerly Twitter, wrote.

Journalist Alyssa Mercante wrote, “Even successful game devs are not safe, because THE PROBLEMS ARE AT THE TOP.”

SpawnOnMe’s Kahlief Adams wrote on X, “Rivals a super popular and profitable game letting go their Game Director the same day as they debut new content seems like Bizzaro land and business as usual at the same time. Success is also in the upside down…”

Rivals a super popular and profitable game letting go their Game Director the same day as they debut new content seems like Bizzaro land and business as usual at the same time.

Success is also in the upside down…

— Kahlief “Positivity Peddler” Adams (@KahliefAdams) February 18, 2025

As Adams mentioned, this tragic news came as Marvel Rivals announced that The Thing and Human Torch from The Fantastic 4 will be in the game this Friday. Blade, the vampire hunter, has also been teased.

Benjamin J. Grimm is undeniably the unwavering heart of any team. Always at the forefront of any fight, he’s ready to take the lead with his unbreakable form.

Ben Grimm originally signed up to be a pilot for his pal Reed, but he never imagined that he’d return from the mission… pic.twitter.com/xGwUtEgi7X

— Marvel Rivals (@MarvelRivals) February 18, 2025

Johnny Storm is the Fantastic Four’s resident hothead heartthrob, always managing to look cool while turning up the heat! Johnny joined his sister on a wild experimental space mission in the hopes of visiting the stars, instead, he became the brightest star of them all with the… pic.twitter.com/WcDGgXZmLz

— Marvel Rivals (@MarvelRivals) February 18, 2025

Bruh, the video game industry is on one right now. You can see more reactions in the gallery below.