Candy Crush-Maker King Lays Off 200 Staff, Replacing Many With AI Tools They Built
- Reference: 0178382150
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/15/1444226/candy-crush-maker-king-lays-off-200-staff-replacing-many-with-ai-tools-they-built
- Source link:
The London-based Farm Heroes Saga team faces cuts of roughly 50 people, including key leadership positions. "Most of level design has been wiped, which is crazy since they've spent months building tools to craft levels quicker," one staffer said. "Now those AI tools are basically replacing the teams."
[1] https://mobilegamer.biz/laid-off-king-staff-set-to-be-replaced-by-the-ai-tools-they-helped-build-say-sources/
Does This Mean..? (Score:2)
Does this mean that banal games like Candy crush will evolve to even more banal drek?
Re: (Score:2)
Banal or not, Candy Crush Saga is a fantastically profitable game. If what you describe as drek is what customers like and are willing to pay for, why would it be surprising that someone is happy to provide?
As for the layoffs, it appears that the general trend is to remove the money from businesses and into the hands of the wealth managers, possibly in anticipation of the coming financial crash. And King most certainly does have fat to lose, from various SVPs of Talking to Other SVPs to copywriters that hav
Angst Level Soviet (Score:5, Funny)
Are you trying to tell me that there were 200 people whose full-time job was designing levels for Candy Crush? That is BLEAK.
Silly Me (Score:2)
I've never even played Candy Crush.
That's OK (Score:3)
I use robots to play Candy Crush for me.
Damn (Score:2)
You know, I've been trying to replace myself with software for the last 20 or so years. The better I get at it, the more demand I have for my services.
Re: (Score:2)
hmmm seems you are still not good enough?
trust me if you were successful, bye bye
Similar thing happened to me (Score:2)
I worked a construction job. I got paid to help build a house for somebody. Now that dude won't continue to pay me because the house he hired me to build is completed.
Moral of the story: get on the ownership/investor side ASAP.
Re: Similar thing happened to me (Score:2)
"Moral of the story: get on the ownership/investor side ASAP."
Everyone can't do that, and the economy would collapse if they tried and they would lose too
Isn't automation the goal of programming? (Score:2)
Especially where it applies to anything so mundane as game level generation?
And then *poof* Stagnation (Score:5, Insightful)
Replacing humans with AI would in a few years just result in a stagnant company because you can only consume your own manure for a limited time.
Re: (Score:2)
Their games aren't fun they're addictive. The only person who matters at that company or the psychologists that designed the gameplay loops.
Companies like King are in the best position to abuse ai. They can absolutely regurgitate the same graphics and gameplay with subtle tweaks to get more money out of people.