Ex-Marvel Rivals Artist Claims NetEase Didn’t Pay Him for His Work on the Game

Marvel has finally revealed the arrival of Marvel Rivals, an Overwatch-like shooter title developed with NetEase Games. The title promises to transform the genre with third-person gameplay, new gameplay mechanics, and a roster of some of the most iconic Marvel characters. From the Avengers to X-Men and even heroes from Spider-Verse, players will be able to assemble their team of superheroes for intense 6v6 battles on maps inspired by Marvel Multiverse. While the game has caught everyone's attention in the gaming landscape, an alleged ex-artist has publicly called out NetEase for directly copying other games and not paying for his work on the title. 

Ex-Marvel Rivals Artists Claims He Wasn’t Paid For His Work

While Marvel Rivals indeed looks to be an incredible free-to-play shooter, its development might have been incredibly messy. William Bao, a Character Concept Artist at id Software, talked about his experience with NetEase.

Bao said that he worked for NetEase during the COVID-19 pandemic and claimed that he was never paid for his work. Furthermore, the artist claimed that the game was one of the most directionless projects they've ever been involved in. The artist said that NetEase developers made him change their artwork a lot of times, even asking him to reference fanart directly from ArtStation. 

Bao stated that he did the work on the game as part of the "free art test " and didn't legally pursue for his payment as it would have cost "an arm and leg" to get paid for his work.

Due to his experiences, Bao has warned younger artists to not take work where they don't get paid, "Back then I was young and hungry. This goes out to all younger artists in this industry, don't ever do "free" art tests. If you're good enough then you deserve to be payed for your time. Any work you do during these "tests" are company properties and could be used in the end."

Although NetEase has yet to respond to the developer's allegations, the situation sounds alarming and could've been handled better. The game looks like a lot of attention and time was put into it, and we hope the developers and artists are given recognition for their efforts. Marvel Rivals will have an Alpha Test in May 2024, with no release date confirmed so far.