King Confirms 200 Job Cuts with AI Tools Set to Replace Laid-Off Devs

King is under Microsoft (Image Credit: Microsoft)

Around 200 roles at King, the developer behind Candy Crush Saga, are being cut and replaced with AI tools, as revealed in an internal memo circulated among staff this month.

The memo, obtained by MobileGamer.biz, outlines that the restructuring is part of broader efforts to streamline operations and respond to a stagnating business. “The industry is changing fast, and our business has not been growing,” the internal communication states, explaining that King plans to simplify its organization by reducing layers of management and reallocating roles. Despite noting that “many talented individuals” remain at King, the leadership made it clear that the company’s structure has become too complex to be effective.

The layoffs are part of a larger wave of job cuts within Microsoft’s gaming division, which owns King through its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Around 9,000 jobs have been impacted across Microsoft over four rounds of layoffs in the past 18 months. Xbox CEO Phil Spencer addressed the wider layoffs in a separate memo, calling them necessary steps to improve “agility and effectiveness.”

Several insiders speaking anonymously to MobileGamer.biz painted a grim picture of the atmosphere at King. One source claimed that many of the laid-off developers were the very people who had been building and training the AI tools now set to replace them. This includes teams involved in level design, UX writing, and user research — areas critical to live service mobile games like Farm Heroes Saga, whose London-based team is reportedly being cut in half.