If you needed further evidence we live in a dystopia an editor would chuck out for being too on-the-nose, try this: per sources spoken to by MobileGamer.biz, laid-off staff at social-game dev King (as in Activision Blizzard King) are being replaced by AI. The AI they helped build, in fact.
If you can cast your mind back to two weeks ago, Microsoft began its most recent bout of bloodletting—which eventually sacrificed 9,000 jobs at the altar of corporate "agility"—with around 200 layoffs at King, which it got its hands on after spending slightly more than the nominal GDP of Myanmar to acquire Activision Blizzard and all to which it was suzerain.
"The fact AI tools are replacing people is absolutely disgusting," said the source, "but it’s all about efficiency and profits even though the company is doing great overall," a sentiment backed up by Spencer's own farewell letter.
Anonymous King staff called the move to axe developers "crazy," adding that "we need more hands and less leadership." The source also alleged that devs hit by layoffs are often those who have expressed "dissatisfaction with the company or processes."
It sounds like staff aren't exactly keen on bringing up these kinds of issues to company HR. "King HR is an absolute shitshow and has been for years," said one staffer, calling it "An extreme example of an HR department whose role it is to protect the company, not the staff."
King's senior leadership team has, apparently, made improving company morale a "top priority" in the wake of an employee survey that went out before the layoffs happened. Unsurprisingly, those layoffs didn't help, and combined with the ongoing "constant but low attrition" among staff, morale is reportedly "now in the gutter."
It's all quite grimly predictable, of course—no one would expect sky-high morale after a big round of layoffs, but it's made all the worse by Microsoft touting the fact that it's actually doing better than ever right now.
It's hard not to feel like an old, uneasy balance between corporate avarice and the wellbeing of staff has been completely thrown out the window, and workers are left to cling to whatever they can while execs scarf down every drop of profit in reach with zero regard for the long-term wellbeing of the people they're responsible for. Indeed, the promise of AI seems to be that executives won't have to be responsible for anything so pesky as human beings for much longer.
These are unpleasant times. I've reached out to Microsoft and Activision for comment on this story, and I'll update if I hear back.
