Candy Crush Dev King Replaces Laid-Off Staff With The AI They Built – Irony Level: Off the Charts
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
King, the developer behind Candy Crush, is reportedly replacing laid-off staff with AI tools those same employees helped develop, raising questions about the human cost of automation in the gaming industry. It's like a plot twist in a gaming dystopia we didn't sign up for.
Right, so the sugar-coated world of Candy Crush might be hiding a slightly bitter centre. According to a recent report by Eurogamer, King, the folks behind the ridiculously addictive match-three game, are allegedly replacing some of the 200 staff they laid off earlier this month with... wait for it... the very AI tools those employees helped to create. I know, I know, it's like something straight out of a Philip K. Dick novel, only instead of rogue androids, it’s level designers being out-level-designed by their own creations.
Sources inside King (via MobileGamer.biz) claim that departments like level design and copywriting have been particularly hard hit, with AI tools now automating much of their work. One source described the whole thing as "absolutely disgusting," pointing out the company's laser focus on “efficiency and profits,” even while “doing great overall”. Fair enough, eh? They added that some programmers may have been let go after voicing “dissatisfaction with the company or processes.” Ouch.
Back in 2023, King's CTO, Steve Collins, told Eurogamer about the company's ambition to become an "AI-first company." At the time, he painted a rosy picture of AI augmenting human creativity, moving folks "up the stack" to more creative roles. But what does this mean? Turns out it means moving some folks *out* of the stack entirely. Seems like that stack only has room for so many, and some got shuffled right off the table.
Collins had said that AI would let King “scale or create thousands of new levels.” But what happens when you scale too far, too fast? Are we heading towards a future where entire games are procedurally generated by emotionless algorithms, devoid of that human spark that makes a game truly… well, *fun*?
Look, no one's saying AI is inherently evil (yet), and in many ways, it can be a powerful tool. But when companies start treating employees like disposable cogs in a machine – especially after they've poured their heart and soul into building that machine – something's clearly gone a bit wonky. It's a tough pill to swallow, mate. We can only hope that other studios take note and learn from this situation. Because, fair dinkum, games are made by people, for people. And that's something no algorithm can truly replicate. At least, not yet.
Tags: AI, Layoffs, King, Candy Crush, Game Development
Original article: Eurogamer