Zynga Lays off 18% of Staff

Author: Mohammed Zohil P.K
Published: June 04, 2013 at 6:34 am

You kinda get the impression that the Zynga bubble may have burst.  They've had a pretty tough year of it, with falling revenues and difficulties across the board.  These troubles manifested themselves this week with the news that they will be laying off 520 employees, or 18% of their workforce.

The move comes as the company reveal a shift in focus towards mobile gaming.  They're aiming to cut $80 million in staff costs by shutting offices in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas.

The company plans to maintain its presence in San Francisco, Beijing and Bangalore, but the scale of the redundancies will still come as a shock to many, with the redundancies hoping to be complete by August.

The cause of the disruption is a renewed focus on mobile.  Zynga believe it's a domain they have to conquer if they're to thrive into the future.  The new size reflects a more realistic view of its true valuation.

The layoffs come after the company revealed that the downturn in its web gaming business was worse than expected, whilst their mobile gaming arm had not grown fast enough to compensate.

In addition to laying off staff, the company has also shut down 18 games in recent months as they reallocate resources to areas they believe offer better growth potentia