Inside the Candy-Coated Hellscape of King: Lawsuits, Toxic Bosses, and Forced AI Use
The maker of Candy Crush is facing a storm of allegations from laid-off staff, painting a grim picture of life inside the mobile gaming giant.
King, the studio behind the world-eating phenomenon Candy Crush Saga, has always projected an image as colorful and cheerful as its games. But behind that saccharine facade, it seems a deep-seated rot has taken hold. Following a round of 200 layoffs in July, a bombshell report from mobilegamer.biz, based on interviews with multiple affected employees, has painted a grim picture of a company plagued by toxic leadership, legally dubious business practices, and a bizarre, top-down AI mandate from its Microsoft overlords. The sweet candy kingdom, it appears, is a deeply bitter place to work.
The Price of Your Severance is Silence
The trouble began in earnest on July 2, when a mandatory "Important Kingdom Update" call announced that 200 employees were being cut. In the HR meetings that followed, staff were allegedly offered severance packages that were, according to one employee's legal counsel, "not legal". While some are now pursuing legal action, others felt strong-armed into signing, fearing they couldn't win against a corporate juggernaut like Microsoft and might end up with even less.
The process itself was reportedly a masterclass in corporate cruelty and incompetence. One source claimed the method was as simple as listing every employee by salary and firing from the top down, with no regard for performance or tenure. King's own five-point performance rating system seems to have been completely ignored in the process. The whole affair was so haphazard that some employees were allegedly rehired within weeks of being let go, while others suspect they were promoted right before the cuts specifically to put them on the middle-management chopping block.
The Toxicity Comes From the Top
According to the sources, morale at King has been in the toilet for years, a decline that accelerated after the Microsoft acquisition removed the ability for employees to give anonymous feedback. "Every question or piece of feedback was always connected to a name, which scared a lot of people, rightfully so," one manager told mobilegamer.biz.
The criticism of King’s HR and leadership is absolutely scathing. One source described HR as a "shitshow of incompetent people protecting the status quo of incompetent leaders". The company's internal ethics team, called 'Right Way2Play', was labeled as effectively useless, with toxic managers reportedly escaping multiple investigations without any repercussions. Worse still, employees who spoke out were allegedly targeted by HR, leading to a culture of fear where many burnt-out staff have been put on medical leave. "The toxicity comes from the leadership team," one source stated bluntly.
You Will Use the AI, and You Will Be Happy
As if the internal politics weren't dystopian enough, there's the AI mandate. Microsoft has apparently decreed that all staff must use AI on a daily basis, with a goal of 100% daily usage for everyone from artists to managers this year. But in a perfect example of corporate disconnect, the mandate is reportedly failing miserably. AI adoption is low, and even King's own leadership is said to be "quite AI sceptic". In a final, twisted irony, some of the 200 people laid off were reportedly replaced by the very AI-based design and testing tools they had helped create.
The pain may not be over. One manager described King's workforce as "bloated" and bluntly stated that "there will definitely be more layoffs". The report paints a picture of a studio adrift, with talented rank-and-file employees trapped between a toxic leadership team and the bizarre, impersonal directives of their new corporate owners. For the millions who tap away at Candy Crush every day, the reality of how the sausage gets made is far from sweet.