Despite the massive world-wide success of team shooter Marvel Rivals, game developer NetEase Games shocked the gaming world by firing Rivals' director Thaddeus Sasser and the rest of development team in the United States.

In a post on LinkedIn, Sasser announced that his US-based team had just been laid off, noting that “times are tough all over." He also bared his intention to help his now-former team members find new jobs.

“My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games... and were just laid off!”, Sasser wrote.

The sudden layoffs are not sitting well with the game's community, sparking a significant backlash on social media and the game's distribution service, Steam. Many players took to the Valve-owned client to leave negative reviews as a way of expressing their disappointment in the decision.

Out of approximately 1,000 reviews posted today, over 300 of them have been negative, with many users criticizing NetEase for dismissing key developers despite the game’s record-breaking numbers.

While NetEase layoffs are the latest to hit the gaming industry, they are far from the first to be announced this year. Other companies such as Crytek, 10:10 Games, Bandai Namco, Rocksteady, Ubisoft, and Iron Galaxy announced layoffs earlier, adding to the thousands of employees who have been made redundant by dozens of AAA and indie studios over the past two years.

So far, NetEase has not yet made a statement regarding the layoffs.

Marvel Rivals is currently available on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC platforms