Marvel Rivals Nearly Cancelled Due to CEO’s Reluctance to Pay Licensing Fees

Marvel Rivals is enjoying significant popularity, but it almost faced cancellation. According to a recent Bloomberg report, discussions were held about completely scrapping the game before its release due to concerns from NetEase’s CEO, William Ding, about paying licensing fees to Disney for using Marvel characters.

Ding reportedly even suggested that artists replace Marvel superheroes with original ones to avoid these costs. However, this idea was not well-received as it may have delayed the project significantly, costing the company more in the long run.

Despite the rough beginnings, Marvel Rivals has been a hit, recently surpassing 40 million players.

While Ding is known for changing his mind frequently about various projects, this decision seems to be one that ultimately benefited NetEase, as the game’s success reflects positively against his initial concerns about the financial commitments involved in licensing.

Even with its triumph, NetEase has been scaling back support on other projects and laying off developers at its Seattle studio, indicating a more cautious approach moving forward.