NetEase has revealed Marvels Rivals now has 40 million players onboard, with the release of its first season driving major uptake, and allowing the game to claim “No. 1” spots on Steam’s top sellers and most-played charts worldwide.
The news was delivered in a recently-released financial report that, frankly, could’ve been released at a better time. Just days ago, multiple Marvel Rivals developers – including the director of the game’s Seattle-based team – were laid off.
Posting to LinkedIn, game director Thaddeus Sasser confirmed his departure, as well as the departures of the rest of his team. “This is such a weird industry,” he said. “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games… and were just laid off!”
As NetEase has now definitively confirmed, Marvel Rivals is a wildly successful game, backed by tens of million of players. It’s also very clear that NetEase itself is a successful company. While it recently reported net revenue being down by 1.4% year-on-year, it’s still a multi-billion dollar company. In the fiscal year ending December 2024, it made RMB21.2 billion (US$2.9 billion).
Notably, Marvel Rivals only released at the very beginning of December, and hadn’t hit its peak yet – so it’s very likely the game will elevate the company’s next financial quarter, driven by player investment in skins and other in-game collectibles.
Read: Marvel Rivals’ US-based development team reportedly laid off
What NetEase’s latest financial reports make clear is the company is progressing steadily, and it remains in a good financial position, even with the ongoing challenges facing the games industry. Its partnership with Blizzard to publish its games in China continues, generating “strong enthusiasm” from its gaming audience. And Marvel Rivals isn’t the only success story for the company – it notes recently-released RPG Where Winds Meet has now surpassed 3 million downloads in China, and that mobile game Justice has “topped the download charts” in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
It also has a range of other games waiting to be published, including Fragpunk, Destiny: Rising, and Marvel Mystic Mayhem.
“We boldly pushed the boundaries of innovation once again in 2024, delivering groundbreaking gaming experiences that captivated players worldwide,” William Ding, Chief Executive Officer and Director of NetEase said in a press release. “Our new hit titles not only redefined gameplay but also set new industry benchmarks, while our legacy franchises gained fresh momentum through striking enhancements in design, storytelling and immersive content.”
“As our diverse game portfolio expands across more genres and engages an ever-growing global audience, we remain dedicated to fostering creativity and collaborating with top talent and strategic partners to shape the next wave of gaming trends.”
Unfortunately, it does appear some of that “top talent” mentioned is now out of work, thanks to NetEase’s recent layoffs. It’s tough not to see the irony here, as the company enthuses about the future while it leaves dedicated, talented staff behind.
As Thaddeus Sasser said, “This is such a weird industry.”
