[STEAM] Marvel Rivals’ game director and team laid off despite strong launch

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Marvel Rivals game director Thaddeus Sasser and his team were laid off by NetEase Games on Feb. 18, he announced on LinkedIn. This move comes despite the game's successful launch in December 2024 and an estimated $130 million in first-month revenue, according to ******** outlet Game Look.





"My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in

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for NetEase Games," Sasser wrote. "And were just laid off!" It remains unclear how many employees were affected, the size of Sasser’s team, or how many developers are still working on Marvel Rivals. Destructoid has reached out to Sasser and NetEase Games for comment.

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Screenshot by Destructoid



The Marvel Rivals layoffs come just two months after NetEase Games

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to other departments. Additionally, Liquid Swords Studio, which is backed by NetEase, recently announced

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.





There are no indications that Marvel Rivals staff members outside the U.S. were affected by the layoffs. However, at least two level designers and the game director were let go, confirming that those impacted were directly involved in the game's development.

Marvel Rivals' success was already putting pressure on Overwatch

The timing of the layoffs contradicts the game’s strong momentum. Marvel Rivals has maintained 200,000+ concurrent players on PC, according to

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, and was already being acknowledged by Blizzard as a serious competitor to Overwatch, which had previously dominated the hero shooter genre.





"We're obviously in a new competitive landscape that I think, for Overwatch, we've never really been in before," Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller told

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. "There is pressure on the Overwatch team, and a lot of it is internal," he admitted, referring to how Marvel Rivals is making his team ask if they're making the "best possible game" they can make.



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