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."
