Imagine pouring your heart, soul, and possibly your last remaining brain cells into launching one of the biggest live-service games in recent memory, only to get handed a redundancy notice as a thank-you. That’s exactly what’s happened to some of the devs behind Marvel Rivals because, apparently, even smashing success isn’t enough to guarantee job security in this industry.
So, what went down? Well, in the same breath as announcing shiny new characters The Thing and Human Torch (flaming symbolism unintentional but fitting), Marvel Rivals also made headlines for a much grimmer reason: NetEase decided to axe an entire US support division. Devs who had just helped launch a game that’s currently thriving were let go, and no one, not even the game’s own director, seems to understand why.
“This Industry Is Weird” – A Direct Quote From Someone Who Knows
Thaddeus Sasser, a Marvel Rivals game director, took to social media to express his bafflement, saying:
> “This is such a weird industry… My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games… and were just laid off!”
Translation: “We did our jobs really well, and now we don’t have them anymore. Cool, cool, cool.”
And look, while we’re all for transparency, the situation was made murkier by misinformation flying around about the scale of the layoffs. Some reports initially made it sound like NetEase had gutted the entire project, but the reality is that six people lost their jobs. Still terrible, but not the total apocalypse some feared.
Corporate Speak Won’t Fix This
NetEase issued a statement to try and quell the outrage, but it did little to change the fact that this move feels cold, calculated, and deeply unnecessary. When you’ve got over 29,000 employees and a game raking in success, the decision to cut a small but important team just seems… petty? Shortsighted? Another depressing example of late-stage capitalism eating its own tail?
To add insult to injury, a Marvel Rivals community manager took to Discord to combat “false rumours,” telling people they “don’t know how things work behind the scenes.” Alright, mate, but we do know that talented devs getting shafted despite doing everything right is a recurring theme in gaming.
A Grim Reminder That Success Means Nothing
Ultimately, this is just another case of the industry proving that no amount of talent, dedication, or success can save you from the axe when executives decide to “restructure.” If a breakout hit like Marvel Rivals isn’t enough to guarantee job security, what is?
For now, the laid-off devs (including the incredibly skilled Garry McGee, as Sasser pointed out) are left picking up the pieces while the rest of us sit here wondering if this cycle will ever change.
Spoiler: It won’t. But hey, at least Marvel Rivals is fun, right?
