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I keep thinking the video games industry won’t find new ways to surprise me. And yet, on seemingly a weekly basis, it consistently does. The industry is bleak right now, with layoffs and studio closures showing no signs of letting up. But the closure of the Seattle-based studio that worked on the wildly successful Marvel Rivals seems a new low in short-term thinking. And yet, on further consideration, I reckon that was publisher NetEase Games‘ plan all along. Succeed or fail, the American-based developers were probably doomed.
Marvel at the Callousness
There’s a darkly humorous meme going around LinkedIn in game dev circles at the moment. In short, it suggests that whatever the outcome of your game, layoffs will follow. Made a bad game? Layoffs. Made a good game? Still layoffs. Worked efficiently as a team? Ah, what the heck: layoffs.
Sadly, recent evidence suggests there’s a lot of truth to the meme. And the latest news may mark a new low in corporate callousness and short-term thinking. Chinese company NetEase Games has unceremoniously fired the entire Seattle-based development studio that worked on Marvel Rivals. This is despite the live-service, free-to-play hero shooter launching to commercial and critical acclaim and reportedly making $136 million in revenue in a single month. NetEase Games gave the usual crass reason for the layoffs: “To optimise development efficiency.”
I certainly don’t want to downplay the callousness of the Marvel Rivals layoffs. In an already chaotically overcrowded job market, yet more redundant developers only exacerbates the situation. These are folks with lives, families, and bills to pay, and the stress such layoffs causes cannot be overstated.
But, on the other hand, I can’t say I’m as surprised as some of my peers at the Seattle-based studio closure. I’ve seen developers question the sanity of it, as if NetEase has made some rash, impulsive decision on a whim. I very much doubt that. In fact, I would suggest the move is likely a strategic one that was always the plan from the beginning of Marvel Rivals‘ development.
According to Plan?
Following the layoffs, NetEase was at pains to promise that the closure of the Seattle-based studio won’t affect the continued development of Marvel Rivals. In fact, as the Chinese company pointed out, what it considers the “core development team” is based in China.
With those words, what seems like a bizarre decision becomes, to me, a little clearer. It’s not hard to imagine that NetEase wanted a top-tier team to steer the direction of the new live-service game. The Seattle-based studio, led by game director Thaddeus Sasser, provided that. Presumably, the studio’s job was to shape the direction of the game, to define its key features and monetisation strategy. And now that’s effectively completed, and it’s “just” a case of maintenance, the studio is no longer required.
Give the incredible success of Marvel Rivals to date, it’s hard to imagine the layoffs decision was anything other than planned from the beginning. The Seattle-based studio was likely an expensive investment for NetEase, with the “core” Chinese team a significantly lower cost. In this era of corporate callousness, a company will not hesitate to cut costs, despite the lives it disrupts. Sadly, it probably knows that it can just create a new top-tier US studio and fill it with great talent, desperate for jobs, at a moment’s notice.
That’s not to say the decision seems totally logical and risk-free for NetEase, though. The developer will need to provide a steady stream of new, balanced content to keep players invested in the long term. I’m sure the remaining China-based Marvel Rivals development team is perfectly capable, but robbing it of strategic support from the Seattle-based studio so early into the game’s lifecycle feels like a major risk.
If the wheels start to come off, it’ll be hard to get Marvel Rivals back on track again. Should that happen, NetEase Games may rue its decision.
