Candy Crush creators lose jobs to AI tools they helped develop: Report
Dozens of employees at King, the Microsoft-owned gaming company known for the Candy Crush series, are reportedly being laid off as the studio replaces human roles with AI systems that were developed in-house.
A report by MobileGamer.biz reveals that around 50 employees, from the team working on Farm Heroes Saga, are being affected by the downsizing.
Departments such as level design, narrative copywriting, user research and UX are among the hardest hit. Many of those impacted were based in King’s offices across London, Stockholm, Berlin and Barcelona.
According to insiders, the company had spent months building AI tools to speed up content creation, particularly level design and writing. Ironically, these tools are now replacing the teams who contributed to their development. One employee stated that nearly the entire level design team had been let go, despite having created the very systems that now make their roles redundant.
In some cases, team leads and managers have reportedly been placed on "gardening leave," meaning they will continue to be paid and receive benefits while being asked to stay away from work, as a measure to protect confidential information or delay a move to competing companies.
The restructuring may extend beyond the initially reported numbers. Centralized teams in research and QA are also being affected, with the total layoffs potentially crossing 200 employees. Employees cited in the report said leadership appears focused on reducing internal layers and speeding up production by relying more heavily on automation and fewer decision-makers.
Earlier King had issued a statement about using AI to handle repetitive tasks with the intention of freeing up employees for more creative work. The layoffs now suggest a shift toward automation.
King, once part of Activision Blizzard, came under Microsoft's ownership in 2023 as part of a $69 billion acquisition.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Cong hits back at PM Modi, calls him 'master distorian'
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Monday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi "master distorian" after he accused the party of breaking the national song Vande Mataram into pieces, and demanded that he apologise for "insulting" the country's founding fathers, including Rabindranath Tagore.
The party also slammed the prime minister for accusing Jawaharlal Nehru of following appeasement politics.
"The Master Distorian has repeated his insult of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore today in Parliament. The Master Distorian of a PM must render an apology. He has insulted our founding fathers and most of all Tagore himself," AICC general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
ALSO READ: Nation was under Emergency when Vande Mataram completed 100 years: PM Modi in LS
Sharing pages of the biography of Tagore, Ramesh said, "Here are pages 110-112 from vol 4 of the authoritative biography in Bengali of Rabindranath Tagore titled Rabindra-Jeebanee by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay, published by Visva-Bharati in 1994."
"Nehru is being accused of appeasement. But will the PM--the Master Distorian-- answer: 1. Which Indian leader formed a coalition in Bengal in the early 1940s with the person who moved the Pakistan resolution in Lahore in March 1940? It was Syama Prasad Mookerjee. 2. Which Indian leader applauded Jinnah in Karachi in June 2005? It was LK Advani. 3. Which Indian leader praised Jinnah in his book 2009? It was Jaswant Singh," Ramesh said in another post.
He was reacting to Prime Minister Modi's remarks that the Constitution was "throttled" and the nation chained by the Emergency when national song Vande Mataram completed 100 years.
Initiating a day-long discussion on 150 years of Vande Mataram in the Lok Sabha, Modi noted that Vande Mataram stood like a rock and inspired unity despite British oppression.
Modi cited a letter written by Nehru to Subhash Chandra Bose claiming that the background of Vande Mataram could antagonise Muslims.
He said the letter was written following a protest by Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Lucknow.
ALSO READ: In a first, Meitei MLA visits Kuki relief camp in Manipur
Quoting the letter, Modi said, Nehru had written that he had read the background of the song and it could spark anger amongst Muslims.
Modi said later Congress convened a session in "Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's Bengal" to review the use of Vande Mataram.
"But, on October 26, Congress compromised on Vande Mataram. They broke it into pieces under the mask of social harmony, but history is witness ..This was Congress' attempt at politics of appeasement. Under pressure of politics of appeasement, Congress agreed to divide Vande Mataram.. this is the reason Congress also bowed to the demand for partition..," Modi alleged.
The prime minister said history is a testament to the fact that Congress knelt before the Muslim League and did this under pressure.
"This is an instance of the politics of appeasement of the Congress. Because it bowed to the division of Vande Mataram, it bowed to the division of India later on.
"Congress has maintained the same politics of appeasement even today," he asserted amid thumping of desks by treasury benches.
The Master Distorian has repeated his insult of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore today in Parliament. https://t.co/SQyDX1MLPx
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) December 8, 2025
