King Replaces Mobile Hit Developers With AI Trained By Them

King, the studio behind mobile hits like Candy Crush Saga, has begun large-scale layoffs related to the introduction of artificial intelligence. According to sources, the company plans to lay off about 200 employees, including level designers, UX specialists, programmers, managers, and copywriters. Notably, their places will be taken by AI-based tools trained by the same developers over the past months.

According to insiders, neural networks will be used to create game levels and write texts, which will allow the company to cut costs. However, King employees call the situation cynical - the management is allegedly betting on profit, ignoring the morale of the team. “Firing people who trained these systems is absurd, especially when the company is already thriving,” notes one of the anonymous employees.



According to sources, even before the layoffs, the studio had low morale, as evidenced by internal surveys. Despite promises to improve the situation, the management began laying off, and, according to some reports, primarily getting rid of dissatisfied employees. Part of the team received layoff warnings, but their dismissal was postponed until September.

This is not the first scandal related to mass layoffs at Microsoft - similar processes have previously affected other divisions of the company. The introduction of AI in game development is becoming more widespread, but King seems to be one of the first to start replacing entire teams of specialists with it.