United Kingdom, Feb. 19 -- 'Marvel Rivals' developer NetEase Games has suffered a round of layoffs.

The studio confirmed it would be letting go of an unspecified number of employees - including all Seattle-based staff - in an effort to "optimize development efficiency" for the popular hero-shooter.

In a statement provided to PC Gamer, a NetEase representative said: "We recently made the difficult decision to adjust 'Marvel Rivals's development team structure for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency for the game.

"This resulted in a reduction of a design team based in Seattle that is part of a larger global design function in support of 'Marvel Rivals'.

"We appreciate the hard work and dedication of those affec...