Marvel Rivals is a big hit, but there was a time when its very existence was in doubt. That's according to a new Bloomberg report on developer NetEase and its CEO William Ding, which says that before the game was released there were discussions about cancelling it outright. NetEase has denied the claim.
The problem, according to a source cited by the report, was that Ding didn't like paying Disney, which owns Marvel, for the right to use its characters in the game. At one point, Ding reportedly asked artists to replace the Marvel superheroes with their own designs, which would've saved a few bucks on licensing fees but ended up costing NetEase millions because of the time and energy wasted on the effort.
Of course, Marvel Rivals is a big hit—it recently surpassed 40 million players—and in hindsight, cancelling it or cutting the licensed lineup would've been a major misstep. But the Bloomberg report says that sort of waffling has been a hallmark of Ding's leadership in recent years: Changing his mind frequently about ongoing projects and cutting support for games in development or shutting them down entirely.
While some at NetEase clearly have questions about Ding's leadership, it sounds pretty mainstream to me. Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson, after all, recently suggested that Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet the company's internal expectations because it didn't have live service components: In order to succeed in the future, Wilson said, "games need to directly connect to the evolving demands of players who increasingly seek shared-world features and deeper engagement."
It's tough to make a successful live service game but incredibly lucrative when it works out, and if NetEase can keep the wheels turning on Marvel Rivals it could be a cash cow for years to come. In this case at least, it's a good thing for NetEase that Ding changed his mind.
