Nothing fun about this game. In an email to staff, Zynga founder Mark Pincus said the company would close 13 older game titles, its Boston studio and possibly other locations. He also said the company would reduce investments in “The Ville,” a new game that has yet to catch on with audiences. Earlier this year, the creator of Farmville and other social media games bought OMGPOP, developer of the Draw Something app. The layoff timing was curious, coming against Apple’s unveiling of its Ipad Mini.
A few Tweets about the Zynga layoffs:
Zynga just laid off 100+ employees (incl. my friends) in its Austin office during the Apple Event. Gave them 2 hours to vacate. RT please.
— Justin Maxwell (@303) October 23, 2012
Zynga laying off 100 people during Apple event reminds me of when the Colts released Peyton Manning during the new iPad announcement.
— Jason Kottke (@jkottke) October 23, 2012
Zynga just fired over a hundred people, giving them two hours to clear out their desks. They did it during the Apple keynote to avoid press.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 23, 2012
So far, I’m hearing closures of Zynga in Boston, Chicago, and Austin. INTERESTING TIMING, EH?
— Alex Navarro (@alex_navarro) October 23, 2012
Later in the day, during Facebook’s conference call with analysts, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said gaming on the world’s largest social network “wasn’t doing as well as I’d like.” Marketwatch reported, ”Zuckerberg said that Zynga made up 7% of its total revenue in the third quarter, down from 10% in the prior quarter.” Business Insider previously reported that Facebook basically owns Zynga.