Entire Western Development Team of Marvel Rivals, Along with Director, Suddenly Fired
Hennadiy Chemеris
Chinese company NetEase Games has decided to lay off the entire Western team (based in Seattle) of Marvel Rivals and its head, Thaddeus Sasser. Despite this, the publisher stated that it will continue to support the Western audience and consult with Marvel.
The official reasons for the dismissal are currently unknown. Here is how Thaddeus Sasser commented on the situation: "This is such a strange industry... My star-studded, talented team just helped release an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games... and we just got laid off! Oh well! Times are tough for everyone — let's find these incredible people new jobs because we all gotta eat, right?".
Some sources report that Thaddeus Sasser was the project leader. However, NetEase Games clarified that the head of Marvel Rivals development is Guangyun Chen, who continues to advance the project.
Marvel Rivals was released in December last year on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The game has 80% positive reviews on Steam and is distributed under the F2P model.