Marvel Rivals was the final smash-hit success that 2024 had, proper on the tail finish of the 12 months with its December launch. Going into 2025, it’s greater than saved that momentum up, and is constantly one of many most-played video games day by day.
In some methods, it’s achieved the unimaginable. It entered the trade as a brand new live-service shooter, a brand new free-to-play recreation, and never solely did it have a robust launch, it’s efficiently pulling gamers away from one other main live-service title.
For now, it’s probably the most widespread video games within the trade, and all issues level to it being round for a very long time. And but, NetEase Video games has laid off Seattle-based recreation director Thaddeus Sasser, and an unknown variety of builders together with him. Sasser claims that his entire group on the Seattle studio, was laid off.
“That is such a bizarre trade,” Sasser started in a publish on his LinkedIn web page. “My stellar, gifted group simply helped ship an extremely profitable new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Video games…and had been simply laid off!”
With what appears to be a ‘shifting ever-forward’ angle, Sasser continues by saying “Oh nicely! Occasions are powerful throughout,” after which begins recommending considered one of his simply laid off group members to anybody else on the platform who could also be hiring.
NetEase Video games has but to launch a press release concerning the layoff, and it’s unclear to just about everybody who comes throughout the information as to why this occurred. It’s nonetheless tragic, however no less than comprehensible, when a studio shuts down after a reside service recreation did not take off.
Marvel Rivals being an enormous success makes it all of the extra bewildering. And the collection of video games trade layoffs during the last two years trudges ahead.
Supply – [Thaddeus Sasser on LinkedIn via Kotaku]
