Entire Support Team for 'Marvel Rivals' Game Laid Off Amid Restructuring

In a shocking turn of events, the team behind the popular game Marvel Rivals has been laid off. Game director Thaddeus Sasser announced the unexpected news in a post on LinkedIn, which was later confirmed by level designer Jack Burrows, who also shared his message on the platform.

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

So, what led to this? Why did NetEase Games lay off the Marvel Rivals team? Here's what we know so far.

On Feb. 19, 2025, NetEase confirmed the layoffs in a statement to IGN. The Chinese tech giant explained that the cuts to the Marvel Rivals team were made for "organizational reasons."

"We recently made the difficult decision to adjust Marvel Rivals' development team structure for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency for the game," NetEase stated.

The company further explained, "This resulted in a reduction of a design team based in Seattle that is part of a larger global design function in support of Marvel Rivals. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of those affected and will be treating them confidentially and respectfully with recognition for their individual contributions."

Despite the layoffs, NetEase emphasized that the ongoing support for Marvel Rivals would remain unaffected, as the primary development team is based in China.

"We want to reassure our fanbase that the core development team for Marvel Rivals, which continues to be led by Lead Producer Weicong Wu and Game Creative Director Guangyun Chen in Guangzhou, China, remains fully committed to delivering an exceptional experience," they added.

NetEase also stressed, "We are investing more, not less, into the evolution and growth of this game. We're excited to deliver new superhero characters, maps, features, and content to ensure an engaging live service experience for our worldwide player base."

In his own social media post, Marvel Rivals game director Thaddeus Sasser opened up about the cuts. He even praised and advocated for his fellow team members who were laid off, starting with Garry McGee.

"Garry was fantastic to work with," Thaddeus wrote. "This is a highly technical designer — currently working in level design, but I've seen his passion project! — who is a proactive problem solver."

Thaddeus continued, "His technical ability, proactivity, and passion for game development and problem-solving were a huge asset to the team. ... Garry doesn't wait for a problem to slow the team down; he finds a way around (or through!) it."

"Early in his time at our Seattle studio, he developed level design tools and gameplay mechanics... that I can't tell you about because they belong to NetEase, hah, but they greatly accelerated the team and often enabled the team's progress," he shared.

He concluded, "On top of it, he's a nice person too! He holds some strong (wrong) opinions on video games, he's highly competitive (in a good way!), and he's got a lot of deep thoughts and philosophies on life, making him an excellent team member and the kind of guy you look forward to talking to every day."