Forbes Just realeased a Statment on the Reason for why the Small Dev(of 6) team was let go.

[Sheiriff Woody]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/02/19/marvel-rivals-layoffs-baffle-everyone-after-the-game-is-a-massive-hit/

Yea i know Paul bad....still .. News is News. Key cut aways.

Thaddeus Sasser was not the highest-up director of Marvel Rivals, rather he was a game director that worked on budgets and staff, not the creative director who is the China-based Guangyun Chen. The size of the US team that was cut is six people, a loss to be sure, but by last count, NetEase has 29,128 employees (it’s unknown how many are working on Rivals specifically).

From Stephen Totilo

NetEase rep tells me the cut of the Marvel Rivals team in Seattle was a “difficult decision” made “to optimize development efficiency for the game”

Full statement below

Very unusual move given Rivals’ massive success. But clear focus here is on “core” development in China

There were some weird posts from a community manager on Discord trying to stop the “spread of false rumors” and accusing spectators of not “knowing what the structure is like within the Rivals dev team." He continued, "I’m simply saying this because it’s phrased wrongly by the media initially, totally funny.” He goes on to say they will not “lose touch” with the Western audience, as they frequently have meetings with the US-based Marvel about the game.

Lets also not forget Seattle is also a "At Will" state so. Stuff like this happens in "At Will" states alot.

[THAT Guy]

"We want to bring development back to china" this statement alone explains everything.

They can't get away with running grossly under paid development sweat shops in most countries outside of China..

They only brought that team in to begin with because they lacked the expertise to make the game happen internally..

Now that it's established there's no longer any need for that expertise, so to maximize profits, they disposed of and replaced with primitive code monkeys working in a grossly underpaid sweat shop in china..

Ow did more or less the same thing when they began ow2 development

[Echorion]

Originally posted by THAT Guy:

"We want to bring development back to china" this statement alone explains everything.

They can't get away with running grossly under paid development sweat shops in most countries outside of China..

They only brought that team in to begin with because they lacked the expertise to make the game happen internally..

Now that it's established there's no longer any need for that expertise, so to maximize profits, they disposed of and replaced with primitive code monkeys working in a grossly underpaid sweat shop in china..

Ow did more or less the same thing when they began ow2 development

I mean companies in the US do the same things. Whatever they can get away with they will.

The only difference is they can (Currently) get away with more over there. Though, way things are going, US might close that gap sooner rather than later.

Is what it is.

[Sheiriff Woody]

Originally posted by THAT Guy:

"We want to bring development back to china" this statement alone explains everything.

They can't get away with running grossly under paid development sweat shops in most countries outside of China..

They only brought that team in to begin with because they lacked the expertise to make the game happen internally..

Now that it's established there's no longer any need for that expertise, so to maximize profits, they disposed of and replaced with primitive code monkeys working in a grossly underpaid sweat shop in china..

Ow did more or less the same thing when they began ow2 development

The Team of Six was in charge of Budgets and Staffing. Which goes into what R&D workers do. They found Talent, hired them Budgeted the Expenses and now they are Dead weight. Its correct they are no longer needed. Yes the R&D work allowed them to Swing past MR competitor which is Overwatch 2. Which is also R&D work. They did their Job, now its time to focus on Core Development as they have a Strong Lead in the Hero Shooter/Brawler Market. I do think if MR wasnt received well they would have been still employed as the whole purpose of R&D work is to make something look good and function Good.

100% these 6 will find jobs very fast after seeing that they Set MR on a good path of Long Term Success. Other company's can use that Expertise(Especially in the West).

[zopf76 ☭]

Originally posted by Archon Oradon:

“to optimize development efficiency for the game”

Correct :

"to optimize development profit efficiency for the game"

[Sheiriff Woody]

Originally posted by zopf76 ☭:

Originally posted by Archon Oradon:

“to optimize development efficiency for the game”

Correct :

"to optimize development profit efficiency for the game"

Would you keep Workers That fulfilled their Duty, and could no longer add anything else to the Company? At that point they are Dead Weight. They did their Job to Staff and Budget. Its like hiring somebody to make a Website(Paid in Full) and still paying them after..they did their Job, Stop Paying.

[id795078477]

Originally posted by THAT Guy:

Now that it's established there's no longer any need for that expertise, so to maximize profits, they disposed of and replaced with primitive code monkeys working in a grossly underpaid sweat shop in china..

Ow did more or less the same thing when they began ow2 development

Holy cow the entitlement and arrogance here leaves me flabbergasted. I guess you're one of those folks who'd claim that Wu Kong had terrible player numbers "because China sales aren't really sales and Chinese gamers don't really count"?

Then how about maybe think that the parent company doesn't want to risk having big chunks of expertise in a country that's getting progressively more hostile to their home country and so it wants to avoid the US having leverage over their business as much as it can?

But yeah.. I know the "China bot" claims are coming after me because it's only fine if the US hits China with something, not the other way around, duh.

[THAT Guy]

Originally posted by id795078477:

Originally posted by THAT Guy:

Now that it's established there's no longer any need for that expertise, so to maximize profits, they disposed of and replaced with primitive code monkeys working in a grossly underpaid sweat shop in china..

Ow did more or less the same thing when they began ow2 development

Holy cow the entitlement and arrogance here leaves me flabbergasted. I guess you're one of those folks who'd claim that Wu Kong had terrible player numbers "because China sales aren't really sales and Chinese gamers don't really count"?

Then how about maybe think that the parent company doesn't want to risk having big chunks of expertise in a country that's getting progressively more hostile to their home country and so it wants to avoid the US having leverage over their business as much as it can?

But yeah.. I know the "China bot" claims are coming after me because it's only fine if the US hits China with something, not the other way around, duh.

Lmafo, China has one of the most hostile governments in the world. Not only internationally, but also against its own citizens.. I mean how many acts of genoicide has the ccp committed against its own citizens..

China just isn't direct in their hostilities, due to fear of it leading to military conflict, because they know they wouldn't stand a chance in a military conflict.. as a result they just show their hostility in more subtile less direct ways to avoid potentially escalating the situation to that point..

Oh and let's not even mention the whole china/Taiwan thing.

The only difference between a country like china and Iran/Palestine is how they show their hostility

[Sheiriff Woody]

Originally posted by THAT Guy:

Originally posted by id795078477:

Holy cow the entitlement and arrogance here leaves me flabbergasted. I guess you're one of those folks who'd claim that Wu Kong had terrible player numbers "because China sales aren't really sales and Chinese gamers don't really count"?

Then how about maybe think that the parent company doesn't want to risk having big chunks of expertise in a country that's getting progressively more hostile to their home country and so it wants to avoid the US having leverage over their business as much as it can?

But yeah.. I know the "China bot" claims are coming after me because it's only fine if the US hits China with something, not the other way around, duh.

Lmafo, China has one of the most hostile governments in the world. Not only internationally, but also against its own citizens.. I mean how many acts of genoicide has the ccp committed against its own citizens..

China just isn't direct in their hostilities, due to fear of it leading to military conflict, because they know they wouldn't stand a chance in a military conflict.. as a result they just show their hostility in more subtile less direct ways to avoid potentially escalating the situation to that point..

Oh and let's not even mention the whole china/Taiwan thing.

The only difference between a country like china and Iran/Palestine is how they show their hostility

Bro he said China is hostile, and the USA is also getting hostile too.

"Then how about maybe think that the parent company doesn't want to risk having big chunks of expertise in a country that's getting progressively more hostile to their home country and so it wants to avoid the US having leverage over their business as much as it can?"

Not only do they have to be safe in China but they have to be safe in the USA as well, since the TikTok thing. NetEase is based in China. Dont need 2 countries making your Company a living Nightmare.

[THAT Guy]

Originally posted by Archon Oradon:

Originally posted by THAT Guy:

Lmafo, China has one of the most hostile governments in the world. Not only internationally, but also against its own citizens.. I mean how many acts of genoicide has the ccp committed against its own citizens..

China just isn't direct in their hostilities, due to fear of it leading to military conflict, because they know they wouldn't stand a chance in a military conflict.. as a result they just show their hostility in more subtile less direct ways to avoid potentially escalating the situation to that point..

Oh and let's not even mention the whole china/Taiwan thing.

The only difference between a country like china and Iran/Palestine is how they show their hostility

Bro he said China is hostile, and the USA is also getting hostile too.

"Then how about maybe think that the parent company doesn't want to risk having big chunks of expertise in a country that's getting progressively more hostile to their home country and so it wants to avoid the US having leverage over their business as much as it can?"

Not only do they have to be safe in China but they have to be safe in the USA as well, since the TikTok thing. NetEase is based in China. Dont need 2 countries making your Company a living Nightmare.

Especially when one of those countries is entirely dependent on human exploitation to maintain its economic super power status.

China wants to keep things in china, because they know they can't get away with human exploitation in most other countries..

When your only interest is maximizing profits, human exploitation is one of the best things you can do.... which is why it's highly illegal in most of the developed world...

[Sheiriff Woody]

Originally posted by THAT Guy:

Originally posted by Archon Oradon:

Bro he said China is hostile, and the USA is also getting hostile too.

"Then how about maybe think that the parent company doesn't want to risk having big chunks of expertise in a country that's getting progressively more hostile to their home country and so it wants to avoid the US having leverage over their business as much as it can?"

Not only do they have to be safe in China but they have to be safe in the USA as well, since the TikTok thing. NetEase is based in China. Dont need 2 countries making your Company a living Nightmare.

Especially when one of those countries is entirely dependent on human exploitation to maintain its economic super power status.

China wants to keep things in china, because they know they can't get away with human exploitation in most other countries..

When your only interest is maximizing profits, human exploitation is one of the best things you can do.... which is why it's highly illegal in most of the developed world...

Yet America Exploits Non Documented Immigrants to work in the Fields and dont get paid minimum wage. Its illegal...But the World dosnt give a hoot.