Marvel RivalsNetEaseNetEase is in an extremely strange position at the moment, with a massive success on their hands in the form of Marvel Rivals, but its reportedly about to slash through a number of studios leading to layoffs. But in terms of its big hit, Marvel Rivals, that reportedly almost didnt happen at all.The founder and CEO of NetEase, William Ding, almost cancelled Marvel Rivals entirely, according to a new report from Bloomberg. NetEase has been trying to shrink and cut bloat in order to compete with rivals like MiHoYo and Tencent, and that almost cost them Marvel Rivals. Why?That would be Disney, and its demand for huge licensing costs to make games using its IP. As a result of this, Ding tried to have his team make original character designs rather than using Marvel characters, which would have made it even more similar to the game it was trying to clone, Overwatch. The attempt to cancel the game cost millions in and of itself, but eventually, Marvel Rivals persevered, and the rest is history. Well, not history, given how new the game still is, but it has had a tremendous launch in an era when most new hero shooters launch and are instantly incinerated.Marvel RivalsMarvel RivalsThere are of course a number of Marvel games that have been made over the years and some, especially mobile titles, persist. But we can think of another high profile Marvel live game, one that failed badly and almost certainly did not justify the use of the pricey license, Marvels Avengers. But that game was a looter shooter using IP that did not lend itself to that, while Marvel Rivals makes much more sense given that its a multiplayer PvP game. I also believe this is likely why the very good Guardians of the Galaxy single player game was also deemed an underperformer, due to that license cost versus sales.It has to be the case that at least so far, that license is worthwhile for Marvel Rivals, and NetEase always reiterates it has a great relationship with Marvel working on the game to bring in new characters and often align them with upcoming MCU projects (see: Fantastic Four).Marvel Rivals launched to 644,269 players on Steam alone, and is still peaking at 437,915, showing relatively small losses, and routinely maintaining a top spot on Steam, Xbox and PS5 lists. The game has attracted largely positive buzz from a shooter fanbase that rarely accepts new offerings, and its almost impossible to believe this would have been the case if this was a NetEase original instead of using the Marvel license.But of course this is just one piece of NetEases portfolio and these looming cuts imply a studio that is still struggling with its identity and priorities. Expect more not-great news soon.Follow me , and .Pick up my sci-fi novels the and