LogInThe fact that those AI models were built by fired workers makes Xbox's recent layoffs not just distressing and sad, but outright dystopian.
Imagine being a game developer, pouring endless hours into not just building games but also creating auxiliary tools to help you work faster, do more – only to realize that all along, you were digging your own grave. A rather grim scenario, wouldn't you agree? Sadly, for hundreds of workers at King, the developer of Candy Crush, this isn't hypothetical but a cruel reality in which they were suddenly fired and replaced by AI.
King
As you've already guessed, the layoffs in question are part of Xbox's mass job cuts, which affected thousands of people across numerous studios and, according to recent reports, decimated the King team – cutting around 200 positions, or roughly 10% of the studio's entire workforce – from middle management, UX, narrative copywriting, research, QA, and level design. Recently, some of those workers spoke to MobileGamer.biz about the layoffs, revealing that the eliminations weren't just upsetting but, in some cases, outright dystopian.
According to several anonymous workers, the job cuts have indeed affected at least 200 people, hitting the aforementioned departments as well as half of the Farm Heroes Saga team, which lost 50 workers, with some of the game's key leadership placed on gardening leave ahead of their departure in September.
While not all of them, a significant portion of those 200 roles were reportedly replaced by artificial intelligence, and to make it sound even worse, the AI tools in question were developed by the very workers who were laid off.
"Most of level design has been wiped, which is crazy since they've spent months building tools to craft levels quicker," one developer commented. "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. The fact AI tools are replacing people is absolutely disgusting but it's all about efficiency and profits even though the company is doing great overall."
Besides AI, another two-letter entity widely disliked by regular workers – HR – is also reportedly responsible for some of the terminations, with anonymous developers claiming that some programmers were fired for expressing "dissatisfaction with the company or processes" or for speaking out in internal social groups, learning the hard way that HR is never your friend.
"King HR is an absolute shitshow and has been for years," they said. "An extreme example of an HR department whose role it is to protect the company, not the staff."
Another developer added that morale at King was low even before the job cuts, and naturally, with their flesh-and-blood colleagues being axed left and right because of AI and HR, morale is "now in the gutter." Here's an internal King memo announcing the layoffs, obtained by MobileGamer:
Notably, this marks the third AI-related scandal linked to Xbox's mass layoffs, as the company previously came under fire for trying to promote new job positions at Xbox Graphics with AI slop, and for XGS Executive Producer Matt Turnbull recommending fired workers discuss their dismissal with artificial intelligence.
I can't predict the future, but grimly, 2025 is shaping up to be remembered as the year corpo suits dropped the facade and started showing their contempt for everyday workers more openly than before – not just replacing people with AI, but rubbing it in their faces. After all, "what can you do about it, peasant?"
I have one question, and it's for Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg: do you still not believe that AI is driving any of the layoffs we're seeing in gaming?
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