Overview

Marvel Rivals’ U.S. Team Layoffs, also known as NetEase Games United States Team Layoffs Controversy, refers to an unspecified number of employees laid off from NetEase Games studio in its U.S. operations office based in Seattle. The former Marvel Rivals Game Director, Thaddeus Sasser, shared the news via LinkedIn in mid-February 2025, sparking a series of debates and surprise reactions by fans of the hero shooter video game, which many critics and players consider to be a highly successful launch in the sector. NetEase released a statement after the negative reactions by fans, stating "organizational reasons" and a need to "optimize development efficiency" as the reasons for the layoffs.

Background

On February 18th, 2025, Thaddeus Sasser,^[1] a Game Director at NetEase Games, posted on his LinkedIn profile that he and his Seattle-based team working on Marvel Rivals were laid off. In his post, he stated, "My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games and were just laid off!" His post amassed over 2,500 likes and 230 reposts in two days.

Developments

NetEase Games Response

The layoffs sparked backlash and negative comments on social media, which NetEase Games^[2] addressed on February 19th, 2025, in a statement alleging it was a difficult decision to shut down Marvel Rivals team in Seattle but that it was made “to optimize development efficiency for the game.” The X^[3] page @RivalsAssembled posted the full statement that same day (seen below), amassing more than 196,000 views and 3,700 likes in less than 24 hours.

Online Reactions

The NetEase Games' layoffs quickly became a viral topic among Marvel Rivals players, who were surprised by the company's decision amid the games' good reception and popularity.

For instance, on February 18th, 2025, YouTuber^[4] Cr1TiKaL posted a video titled "Well that sucks," commenting on the U.S. team layoffs (seen below), which amassed over 1.6 million views and 67,000 likes in two days.

The lack of understanding of the layoffs among fans also sparked debates on X, as user @Grummz^[5] explained Guangyun Chen "is the key director on the game, not Thaddeus," claiming the Game Director fired from the Seatle office "was in charge of budgets and manpower, not the creative vision for the game."^[6] The tweet, posted on February 19th, amassed more than 55,000 views and 900 likes in less than a day.

Search Interest

External References