NetEase financials reveal Marvel Rivals topped 40m players before layoffs

Free-to-play Marvel Rivals has secured over 40 million players as well as "claimed the No. 1 spot on Steam's top sellers."

That's according to NetEase's latest financials, which told investors it had "introduced more new blockbuster games around the globe, reinforcing NetEase's leadership across diverse genres and growing global momentum" just hours after confirming layoffs at a US support studio for Marvel Rivals.

"Marvel Rivals topped Steam's global top sellers chart shortly after its launch on December 6, amassing over 10 million registered users within 72 hours and over 40 million to date," NetEase stated.

"Its Season 1 update in January 2025 sparked another surge, claiming the No. 1 spots on Steam's top sellers and most-played charts worldwide."

The Chinese megacorp also confirmed its games and related value-added services saw a 1.5% boost during the fourth quarter of its fiscal year to $2.9 billion, bringing its full-year revenue to $11.5 billion, up from $11.2 billion in 2023.

Net revenues from its online games business accounted for around 96% of the segment's "total net revenues for fiscal year 2024, compared with 92.9% for fiscal year 2023."

By comparison, net revenues from mobile games accounted for approximately 72.7% of net revenues from the operation of online games for fiscal year 2024, compared with 75.2% for fiscal year 2023. NetEase attributes the change to " higher net revenues generated by PC games such as Naraka: Bladepoint and licensed titles."

NetEase-owned studio Worlds Untold announced in December that it was pausing its operations, having been launched in 2023.

NetEase also reportedly shut down Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios in August, with director Ryosuke Yoshida recently announcing he had quit to join Square Enix.