Marvel Rivals Hits 40 Million Players Days After Gutting Their Entire Seattle Team
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Key points
- Marvel Rivals has surpassed 40 million players globally.
- NetEase has recently laid off the whole game’s Western support team.
- The company’s 2024 net revenues from games show growth compared with 2023.
NetEase reveals in its Feb. 20, 2025 financial report that Marvel Rivals has officially surpassed 40 million players across all platforms. The news comes just days after NetEase unexpectedly laid off the game director, Thaddeus Sasser, and his entire Seattle-based team.
The team-based PvP hero shooter game by NetEase gained growth very quickly after its release on Dec. 6, 2024, topping Steam’s global seller’s chart and attracting over 10 million registered users within 72 hours. By January 2025, due to the launch of its Season 1, the game reached the No. 1 spot on Steam’s top sellers.
Besides that, Marvel Rivals surpassed 20 million players eleven days post-launch, and by the end of its first month, it had earned an estimated $135 million.
Despite the success, NetEase decided to lay off the Western support team. According to reports, the company is now focused on Chinese and Eastern European game development markets, where labor costs are lower.
