King, acquired by Microsoft along with Activision Blizzard, recently announced mass layoffs impacting 200 staff members. Many employees express that morale has drastically fallen, particularly as AI technology developed by teams is now being utilized to supplant them. Key functions like level design and copywriting are experiencing significant reductions due to AI tools. Furthermore, the company faces ongoing union negotiations which have left many laid-off employees in uncertainty. Internal survey results indicated a need for improving morale, which has significantly declined after layoffs were disclosed.
"Most of level design has been wiped, which is crazy since they've spent months building tools to craft levels quicker," a member of King's Farm Heroes Saga team reportedly told Mobilegamerz.biz.
"It's now in the gutter" ever since the layoffs were announced, indicating a significant drop in morale among employees at King.
King has not been secretive of its use of AI tools to make games like Candy Crush, which players' spent an estimated $9 million on every week.
"Before we release a level, we let the bots play that level and we get insights-are there any shuffles? How difficult was this level?" King's director of AI Labs Sahar Asadi mentioned.
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