What just happened? King, the company behind the iconic Candy Crush franchise, is preparing to lay off around 200 employees amid a significant internal transition. According to insiders, the move has created an atmosphere of instability and low morale. Many of the affected workers are reportedly being replaced by the very AI tools they helped develop.
Sources familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal, told Mobile Gamer Biz that employees in departments such as level design and narrative writing spent years developing AI tools to accelerate their workflows, only to now see those same tools rendering their roles obsolete.
"Most of level design has been wiped, which is crazy since they've spent months building tools to craft levels quicker," said one employee. "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 layoffs, first reported by Bloomberg and later confirmed by current employees, are largely affecting mid-level managers, designers, researchers, and creative staff, many of whom held highly specialized roles.
"The fact AI tools are replacing people is absolutely disgusting," one employee said. "It's all about efficiency and profits even though the company is doing great overall."
Roughly 200 jobs are being cut across King's offices in London, Stockholm, Berlin, and Barcelona, according to people familiar with the matter. One of the hardest-hit teams is Farm Heroes Saga in London, where sources say about half the staff – approximately 50 people – are being let go, including senior team members who have already been placed on leave ahead of their departures this fall.
In internal meetings, King's leadership described the sweeping changes as necessary to eliminate "layers" and "slow-moving processes" within the company. One staffer who attended the meetings said executives pointed to over-specialization and organizational silos as key issues they now aim to solve by merging teams and reducing overall headcount.
"They also mentioned the fact that we are too specialized now and siloed between crafts, which has got us to our amazing profits but now is hampering us so we need to merge and generalize," the employee said. "If a resource is centralized it is being cut or moved into the production teams," said another employee.
Others say the way the message was delivered only deepened frustration. "It seemed that the main info communicated to us by leadership was literally being read like a script in the calls, which is like a slap to the face," said one staff member.
Internally, a recent employee survey already showed morale was low, and workers say the layoffs have only made things worse. "The SLT [senior leadership team] said improving morale was a top priority… as you can imagine, it's now in the gutter," said a source familiar with the company's response to the survey.
Insiders also raised concerns that some employees were targeted not purely for redundancy or performance issues, but for speaking out internally. One person claimed several layoff decisions appeared "arbitrary," particularly among programmers and those who had criticized internal policies or raised concerns on company forums.
These tensions are not new, according to current and former employees, who say HR and management dysfunction has plagued King for years.
"King HR is an absolute shitshow and has been for years," one source said. "An extreme example of an HR department whose role it is to protect the company, not the staff."
As the summer unfolds, uncertainty looms for many King employees, especially in departments still awaiting news about their future. A new company-wide organizational chart is expected in September, after negotiations with unions conclude. Until then, entire teams remain in limbo, unsure whether they'll still have a job in the fall.
"Despite the conditions forced upon the teams by inept leadership, the teams are very close-knit and do genuinely care about each other and are passionate about improving their games," one team member said.
Microsoft, which owns King through its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, declined to comment to Mobile Gamer Biz about the restructuring. King has also not issued a public statement.
Candy Crush studio hit by layoffs as AI takes over design and writing work
