almost never came out, according to a new report. It's no surprise right now how has become so popular: it adapts an incredibly well-liked piece of IP into a game that's in equal parts fun and challenging.
Content updates have come at a near-constant pace, with new maps and characters coming to seemingly without slowing down since its release.
It entered into an oversaturated but stagnating market, and took the world by storm — but it almost never was. According to a new report by , NetEase CEO William Ding almost canceled before it came out — at least in part due to the strength of the IP behind it.
According to the report, Ding opposed the need to pay Disney in order to use Marvel characters in, and attempted to convince the designers of the game to create original characters instead to save them the cost.
A spokesperson at NetEase denied this claim, but other NetEase workers paint a worrying picture of a demanding work environment.