Xbox Promotes New Roles With “Gutter-Slop” AI Art After Layoffs, King Employees Reportedly Replaced By AI They Helped Create
Xbox has started using AI, after Microsoft unleashed massive layoffs. Many had theorized Microsoft were aiming to ‘replace’ employees with cheaper AI, and now poor quality AI art is promoting new roles; with King employees claim they are being replaced by AI tools they helped create.
There’s been little good PR for Xbox after Microsoft laid off “hundreds” of employees. Amid the sea of disgruntled former employees, Romero Games (who many speculated had Xbox as their mystery publisher) had to assure gamers they weren’t shutting down.
Things were only made worse when an Xbox executive recommend laid off employees turn to AI chat programs to “help reduce the emotional and cognitive load that comes with job loss.” This, along with Microsoft investing $80 billion into AI data centers at the start of the year, only encouraged rumors Microsoft were aiming to replace human workers with AI.
Now, staff of a subsidiary have added to the claims, alongside yet another blunderous executive LinkedIn post adding fuel to the fire.
In a now deleted LinkedIn post, Mike Matsel (Xbox Graphics Principal Development Lead) advertised job positions, detailing, “The Xbox Graphics team is hiring folks with experience with device drivers, GPU performance, or related validation or engineering system experience.” Matsel even welcomed people to message him if the positions were closed.
However, Matsel included a piece of art which many suspect was generated using AI. Apart from the simplistic art-style, there are errors typical of AI art. While one could forgive the lack of cables behind the monitor (as part of minimalism), it appears the screen is on the back of the monitor.
Other professionals weren’t shy to call out Matsel, including those working for PlayStation and Ubisoft. Many highlighted the irony and poor taste of using an AI generated image to promote a graphics-based job. Not to mention applying for a job under Xbox after the layoffs.
“This s—t is just embarrassing,” prefaced Ubisoft Bordeaux Lead Writer Rik Godwin, adding, “AI gutter-slop image (THE SCREEN IS ON THE BACK OF THE MONITOR) to advertise a *graphics* post.”
He ended his post with a straight-forward, “Do.F—king.Better.”
Another user ironically asked, “Is writing code on the other side of the monitor a plus?”
“Not to be mean but using an AI image to get people to apply for a job feels exceptionally tacky,” pointed out yet another user.
Noting the poor job that had been made designing the advert, another user asserts, “Not only is it a bad look to resort to AI when you’re the lead dev of the graphics department, but not double checking it before posting it is laughable lol.”
“Maybe one of these thousands who were just fired would’ve caught it,” he concluded, adding insult to injury.
Shay Casey, xPlayStation Associate Art Director at Bend Studio, weighed in, declaring, “Crappy AI art? Check! What a dream to work for Microsoft and then get laid off because management doesn’t fckn get games. Where do I apply?”
AI isn’t just helping hire new staff, but ousting them from their jobs. Mobilegamer.biz reports that King (Candy Crush) is preparing to lay off over 200 employees; mostly from middle management, UX, and narrative copywriting. This also reportedly includes many level design, user researchers, and purportedly half of the Farm Heroes Saga team (around 50 people).
Multiple anonymous sources told the outlet that yet more of the above are at risk, and had spent recent years creating and training AI to make their jobs easier. Now, those programs are being set up to replace them.
One staffer told Mobilegamer.biz, “Most of level design has been wiped, which is crazy since they’ve spent months building tools to craft levels quicker. Now those AI tools are basically replacing the teams. Similarly the copywriting team is completely removing people since we now have AI tools that those individuals have been creating.”
“The fact AI tools are replacing people is absolutely disgusting but it’s all about efficiency and profits even though the company is doing great overall. If we’re introducing more feedback loops then it’s crazy to remove the developers themselves, we need more hands and less leadership,” the source proposed.
In an internal memo obtained by Mobilegamer.biz, King management attempted to address why the layoffs were happening. They blamed the business not growing, and needed to look at all angles; including internally. “As we’ve talked about before, we are making several changes to get the business back to growth.”
“Unlocking many more AI tools is one recent example. Investing more in marketing this year is another. We’re fortunate to have many talented individuals at King. But we also have a collective problem: the size and structure of the company often makes it difficult to get things done.”
Management went on to explain they needed to “simplify” the company, with fewer “layers” and stakeholders for all projects.
Another source said programmers had also been removed over “arbitrary reasons” that were, reportedly, fueled by employees who expressed “dissatisfaction with the company or processes” or for merely having their voices heard within social circles in the company.
This is on top of King’s HR being described as “an absolute s–tshow” hellbent on protecting the company rather than its employees. Unsurprisingly, an internal employee survey — even prior to the job cuts — said morale was “in the gutter.”
King is a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, who Microsoft fully acquired in October 2023. According to Bloomberg’s report on the Microsoft layoffs, the gaming division had been “under pressure” to increase profits ever since.
