Last month, MobileGamer.biz reported on how Microsoft's mass 9,000+ layoffs across the company impacted King, the mobile division acquired alongside Activision Blizzard and the home of Candy Crush, with developers being replaced by the AI tools they were forced to build. Now, MobileGamer.biz has followed up with a new report that digs further into the chaos caused by the 200 developers being cut from King, with toxic leadership making decisions that don't align with the reasons given for them, and how Microsoft has been making daily AI use for King staff mandatory.
To say that things are not great within King seems to be an understatement. Layoffs are never good for morale, and layoffs that try to replace human workers with AI tools they were building seem to have the potential to hit new lows.
The mandated AI use from Microsoft certainly hasn't helped morale, but one source didn't lay the blame entirely at daily AI use and Microsoft's feet. The fault, as is usually the case, lies with poor leaders, in their eyes. "Microsoft and AI is one cause [of the low morale] but the toxicity is endemic of the leadership team at King."
That's exasperated when leadership has been making decisions that employees cannot make heads or tails of, for the simple fact that they don't line up compared to the reasoning leadership is trying to pass off to employees.
"It didn’t matter that it was people who worked there for ten or more years or who contributed to the success and earned promotions. Performance didn’t matter," said one source. King has a rubric for its employee performance reviews, but according to a senior manager, nothing about the regular protocols for letting staff go seemed to factor in.
"The logic for who has been chosen to be laid off has been hard to figure honestly…the rationale outlined was our heavy management layer and inefficient product development, but looking at the people let go, it doesn’t align," they said. The reasoning behind the cuts seems even more skewed when other sources claimed several of those cut staff were rehired shortly after.
What's also troubling is the speculation the sources provide as to some of the actual reasons behind the cuts to help fit Microsoft's narrative of a "heavy management layer" and inefficiencies. One source speculates that certain staff were recently promoted to middle-management roles specifically so they could be cut in July. Another speculates that the cuts looked like executives "listed every employee, sorted by salary and then fired them top down, only skipping over people they trust."
More on the allegations of a toxic environment and toxic management, one source claims that a key reason for those issues stems from the fact that employees can no longer deliver anonymous feedback.
"Every question or piece of feedback was always connected to a name, which scared a lot of people, rightfully so. As a manager I was always trying to deliver that feedback to the leadership team anonymously, but I was pressed on names," said one source.
Another source was more direct with their thoughts about the current state of the human resources department at King and how internal issues have been left to fester. "HR is indeed a shitshow of incompetent people protecting the status quo of incompetent leaders. Often, they have protected toxic leaders that have been reported to several degrees of accountable people, HR and above."
Another source added, "HR has often protected toxic leaders and put pressure on the ‘difficult’ employees for reporting the issue. Employees that were vocal and known for being vocal have been targeted by HR on several occasions."
On top of all this, mandated daily AI use hangs over every employee's head. "AI was being introduced by Microsoft as mandatory a while ago," said a source. "The goal for last year, if I recall correctly, was having a 70 or 80% daily usage of AI on general tasks. And the goal for this year was to get up to 100%, so that every artist, designer, developer, even managers have to use it on a daily basis."
Another source said they believe there are more cuts to come beyond the 200 from last month.
What's happening at King, and what's happening across Microsoft and the rest of the videogame industry with what has felt like a constant onslaught of mass layoffs for the last few years, will have drastic repercussions on the industry that will be felt for years to come. To say it's unfortunate is an understatement, and to say that it's tragic only beings to address the scope of the issue.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
