King, the Microsoft-owned gaming studio behind the iconic Candy Crush franchise, is reportedly preparing to lay off more people and replace them with the same AI tools they developed. These job cuts are apparently happening in departments like level design and narrative writing.
The news comes from MobileGamer.biz, which, citing sources familiar with the matter, said that the layoff will affect around 50 people, or half the team working on Farm Heroes Saga.
“Most of level design has been wiped, which is crazy since they’ve spent months building tools to craft levels quicker. Now those AI tools are basically replacing the teams. Similarly, the copywriting team is completely removing people since we now have AI tools that those individuals have been creating”, one employee told the publication on the condition of anonymity.
These employees worked from the company’s offices in London, Stockholm, Berlin and Barcelona. As it turns out, they largely consist of mid-level management, UX, narrative copywriting, level design and user research staff.
The report goes on to say that some of the game’s leadership is being “put on gardening leave”, which means that they will have to stay away from the workplace, but will continue to receive salary and benefits. This is usually done to prevent employees from immediately joining a competitor and to prevent sensitive information from leaking.
“The fact AI tools are replacing people is absolutely disgusting. It’s all about efficiency and profits even though the company is doing great overall. If we’re introducing more feedback loops then it’s crazy to remove the developer themselves, we need more hands and less leadership”, added another employee.
As it turns out, some centralised staff, like those working on research and QA, are also being removed, which means the total number of laid-off people may cross the 200 mark. Citing one staffer who was present in the meeting, the report suggests King’s leadership allegedly wants to remove layers, stakeholders and other processes which might be slowing down development.
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Last year, King talked about how it is using AI tools to do its mundane tasks, giving its staff more time for creative thinking. Unsurprisingly, these AI layoffs are not limited to King.
Earlier this month, a developer working for Halo developer 343 Industries reportedly told Engadget that they felt frustrated as they lost their job just hours after Xbox head Phil Spencer celebrated the division’s profitability. To give you a quick recap, King Studios was previously owned by Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard and came under Microsoft’s umbrella when the tech giant acquired Activision for $69 billion back in 2023.
