Microsoft’s layoffs earlier this month have rocked its vast gaming empire, with one of the hardest-hit studios being King—the developer behind mobile gaming giant Candy Crush Saga. According to multiple sources cited by MobileGamer.biz, several teams at King, including narrative design, UX, level design, and user research, are now facing job cuts. Ironically, the very AI tools being used to replace them were trained and developed in part by the same staff now being shown the door.
Internal turmoil is growing within the studio, with anonymous employees calling the move “disgusting,” especially since King remains highly profitable. “It’s all about efficiency and profits,” one employee said, highlighting the contradiction of investing in AI tools while simultaneously cutting human jobs. “If we’re introducing more feedback loops, then it’s crazy to remove the developers themselves. We need more hands and less leadership.”
The copywriting team is also under pressure, with reports suggesting that the London-based group working on Farm Heroes Saga will be cut by nearly 50%. While the company has not confirmed the exact figures, sources estimate that over 200 employees across Microsoft’s gaming division could be affected—matching numbers initially reported by Bloomberg.
The AI-driven layoffs extend beyond King. At Halo developer 343 Industries, frustration is also boiling over. One developer told Engadget they were “super pissed” after being laid off—just hours after receiving a company-wide email from Xbox head Phil Spencer, celebrating the platform’s profitability. That same source alleged Microsoft is “trying its damnest to replace as many jobs as [it] can with AI agents,” pointing to the aggressive internal push for Microsoft Copilot.
As Microsoft continues to integrate AI into every corner of its operations, including game development, the cost appears to be falling squarely on the shoulders of the very people who helped build its gaming success.
