Krafton Launches Voluntary Resignation Program After Declaring 'AI-First' Transformation

Subnautica publisher transforms into 'AI first' company and introduces voluntary resignation policy

South Korean games publisher Krafton recently announced its , which typically means that human jobs are about to go on the chopping block. To that end, the company is now trying to slash its workforce by offering voluntary resignations, . Krafton is a giant company with tentacles in numerous development studios, including the folks that make PUBG and Subnautica. The organization says this isn't a plan to lay off its human workforce, but will "support members in proactively designing their growth direction and embarking on new challenges both inside and outside the company amid the era of AI transformation." Yep. Those are certainly words. The company also says it will "support members in autonomously deciding whether to continue the direction of change internally or expand externally." That's corporate speak for "my way or the highway." CFO Bae Dong-geun said during a recent earnings call that "individual productivity must increase at the company-wide level." Oh yeah. It's worth noting that Krafton . It looks like these profits will not be going to the staff, but rather will be funnelled into large-scale investments in AI. It's a tale as old as time, . The company plans to "automate work centered on agentic AI" including the development of an "AI-centered management system." It's freezing all hiring except for those "developing original intellectual property and AI-related personnel." Agentic AI systems have, so far, proven to be underwhelming when tasked with taking the reins. A recent MIT study noted that . Another study predicts that 40 percent of agentic AI projects will be . In other words, good luck in your forthcoming endeavors, Krafton. .

After South Korean publisher Krafton announced it's transforming into an "AI first" company, it's now offering employees voluntary resignation

South Korean publisher Krafton announced it's transforming into an "AI first" company last month, and is now reducing human jobs with a voluntary resignation scheme. The move comes after the company recorded record-breaking performance in its most recent financial quarter and has announced large-scale investments of over 100 billion won each in the Indian market and AI sectors, as reported by Business Korea. The publisher - known for the likes of inZOI, Subnautica, and PUBG - maintains this scheme is not a layoff plan for workforce reduction. "The core purpose is to support members in proactively designing their growth direction and embarking on new challenges both inside and outside the company amid the era of AI transformation," said a company representative, adding "the company plans to support members in autonomously deciding whether to continue the direction of change internally or expand externally." Krafton announced its "AI First" plan back in October. "Starting today, Krafton will automate work centered on agentic AI," said CEO Kim Chang-han. "We will begin in earnest an AI-centered management system where members focus on creative activities and solving complex problems." The company is also freezing hiring "excluding organisations developing original intellectual property (IP) and AI-related personnel", as explained by CFO Bae Dong-geun during a recent earnings call, adding "rather than reducing costs through AI First, individual productivity must increase at the company-wide level." The news follows another South Korean developer and publisher, Nexon, whose CEO Junghun Lee believes "it's important to assume that every game company is now using AI". Nexon is the publisher behind Embark Studios' extraction shooter Arc Raiders, which uses AI for voice work. It's not just Korean companies, either. According to a report from the organiser behind the Tokyo Games Show, over half of Japanese game companies are using AI in development. What's more, Final Fantasy maker Square Enix recently announced it wants 70 percent of its QA work to be handled by generative AI by the end of 2027, ahead of layoffs in its western offices.

Krafton launches voluntary resignation program weeks after declaring its 'AI-first company' future

The Korean publisher insists this isn't workforce reduction, however. In October, PUBG and Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton announced that it would be undergoing a "complete reorganization" to become an "AI-first" company, planning to invest over 130 billion won ($88 million) in agentic AI infrastructure and deployment beginning in 2026. This week, as it boasts record-breaking quarterly profits, the Korean publisher has followed that strategic shift by launching a voluntary resignation program for its domestic employees, according to Business Korea reporting (via Automaton). The program, announced internally, offers substantial buyouts for domestic Krafton employees based on their length of employment at the publisher. Severance packages range from 6 months' salary for employees with one year or less of service to 36 months' salary for employees who've worked at Krafton for over 11 years. The voluntary resignation program follows a November 4 earnings call in which Krafton announced a record quarterly profit of 1.052 trillion won ($717 million). During the call, Krafton CFO Bae Dong-geun indicated that Krafton had also halted hiring for new positions, telling investors that "excluding organizations developing original intellectual property and AI-related personnel, we have frozen hiring company-wide." Given its hiring freeze, the voluntary resignation program, and its heavy AI investments in GPU clusters and "an AI-centered management system," it certainly seems like Krafton is betting on cutting labor costs by replacing human workers with AI work automation. A Krafton representative, however, told Business Korea that the resignation program isn't an attempt at workforce reduction, but an effort to "support members in autonomously deciding whether to continue the direction of change." "The core purpose is to support members in proactively designing their growth direction and embarking on new challenges both inside and outside the company amid the era of AI transformation," the Krafton representative said. Whatever Krafton calls it, it remains unclear whether the games industry's recent gambling on AI automation is capable of paying off. Recent reports indicate that current AI tech -- while being used as a justification for layoffs -- is making developers miserable at major publishers like EA by creating more frustrations than productivity gains. Elsewhere, Krafton remains tangled in its messy lawsuit with the ousted founders of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds, who accuse the publisher of sabotaging the game's development to avoid paying their $250 million earnout. Krafton maintains that it's "focused on developing Subnautica 2 and delivering the best possible experience to players."

PUBG and Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton, now an "AI first" company, asks devs to fire themselves in voluntary resignation program if they can't roll with "the era of AI transformation"

Krafton seemingly gunning for the most hated game publisher crown Krafton, the publisher behind PUBG, Hi-Fi Rush 2, and Subnautica 2, has started a voluntary resignation program for employees who aren't on board with "the era of AI transformation." Amid its legal quarrel with Subnautica's original developers, Krafton announced in October that it's now an "AI first" company and pledged to spend upwards of $70 million in support of the controversial tech. Now, it's taken its embrace of AI to an almost militant level, asking developers who aren't on the same page to get lost, essentially. The point of the voluntary resignation program, a Krafton spokesperson told BusinessKorea, here machine-translated from Korean, "is to support members in proactively designing their growth direction and embarking on new challenges both inside and outside the company amid the era of AI transformation," adding that "the company plans to support members in autonomously deciding whether to continue the direction of change internally or expand externally." Employees choosing to leave Krafton under its new program will reportedly receive varying levels of financial support depending on their tenure, with the max being 36 months salary for those with more than 11 years at the company. The issue of the use of generative AI in video game development is one of the industry's most hotly debated, with major players including Krafton, EA, Ubisoft, and Take-Two publicly signaling support to varying degrees, and plenty of others - most prominently in the indie space - arguing AI will never be able to replace human creativity. Meanwhile, hot new extraction shooter Arc Raiders has drawn scrutiny for its use of text-to-speech AI for some of its dialogue, something developer Embark has been doing since its previous title, The Finals.