The games industry has been hit with over 20,000 layoffs since 2023. It feels like new announcements of team reductions and studio closures roll out every week or so. With an industry in crisis, you would expect major success stories to stick out and be rewarded.

According to a report from Bloomberg, the cuts to the North American team working on Marvel Rivals aren’t an anomaly. NetEase founder and CEO William Ding is reported to have cut hundreds of jobs, closed studios, and taken a firmer hand with the company’s Japanese teams — including the one led by former Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio head Toshihiro Nagoshi.

NetEase CEO William Ding's refusal to pay for Marvel licenses nearly resulted in the cancellation of Marvel Rivals.

Amidst the abrupt layoffs of some employees who worked Marvel Rivals, it's now reported that the game's cancelation was considered prior to its release, which is a surprising revelation, given it has already surpassed 40 million players.

Marvel Rivals was nearly canceled by NetEase's founder before its release, a source reportedly close to the game's publisher claims.

Marvels Rivals, which has been a huge success for publisher NetEase since its launch last year, reportedly almost didn't make it to release. It's claimed the company considered cancelling the project because its CEO objected to paying Disney for use of its characters.