Zynga to shutter New York and LA studios, cut 18% of workforce

Social game monolith Zynga plans to shutter its New York City, Dalles and Los Angeles game development studios. Sources at Zynga confirmed the closures to Engadget, and also confirmed reports of layoffs affecting 520 employees (around 18 percent of the company's total workforce), and now CEO Mark Pincus published his internal letter to employees on the company's website. Apparently the ousted employees will receive, "generous severance packages" for their time; we've published the full letter below the break.

It's unknown how this will impact games and services from those offices, but it is said to cut $80 million from staff costs. The move is part of a larger restructuring at Zynga with a focus on mobile, which Pincus says will make, "mobile gaming truly social by offering people new, fun ways to meet, play and connect." The studio suffered similar closures late last year, which included Boston, UK, and Japan locations.


Sources: ENGADGET