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Microsoft’s Candy Crush Studio Replaces 200 Creative Roles With AI

This action follows Microsoft’s gaming division restructuring financed by an $80 billion AI push.

Overview

  • King dismissed 200 level designers, narrative writers and UX professionals whose functions are now handled by AI systems they helped develop.
  • About 50 members of the London-based Farm Heroes Saga team have been laid off or are in the process of exiting under the same automation plan.
  • Several senior employees have been placed on paid gardening leave ahead of their official departures in September.
  • Internal surveys reported by MobileGamer.biz indicate that morale among remaining King staff has collapsed following the cuts and AI integration.
  • The moves form part of Microsoft’s broader gaming division overhaul that includes roughly 9,000 job cuts alongside massive AI infrastructure spending.