NetEase CEO William Ding almost canceled Marvel Rivals because he didn’t want to pay for the licenses to use Marvel characters. During that time, he tried to push original characters.
A Bloomberg report (via IGN) shared sources that claim that Marvel Rivals was on thin-ice solely because of its ties to existing media. Of course, it was pushed through and the game was seen as a massive success, no doubt making Ding feel like a fool for doubting the game’s ability.
NetEase Games has since the Marvel-linked game’s release seen great success, though it has shut down rumors of a PvE mode, which would make it stand out. It also closed down its Seattle operation, and started pulling out of non-Chinese investments, with notable former investments being Bungie, Devolver Digital, and more.
Moreover, the report points to Ding being a wild leader — making sporadic decisions, changing his mind, and doing things like hiring recent grads in leadership roles. He’s also canned tons of projects to the point next year might look grim for NetEase’s game library.
In our Marvel Rivals review, we said: “If you’re not into multiplayer, it’s at least worth a shot because it’s free-to-play. NetEase released Marvel Rivals at just the perfect time. We will see how far they can take this very strong launch, but currently, this game is a blast! It’s a must-play for Marvel fans, shooter fans, and especially Overwatch fans.”
