Zynga shutters Boston office, slashes staff, sunsets games
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/zynga-shutters-bost...

Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is slashing staff and pulling the plug on more than a dozen games in advance of what is expected to be a grim third-quarter earnings report.

An internal email from co-founder and CEO Mark Pincus obtained by TechCrunch confirms Zynga will shutter its Boston studio and has proposed closing its Japan and UK offices. "Additionally, we are reducing staffing levels in our Austin [Texas] studio," Pincus states, noting Zynga also will make "a small number of partner team reductions." In all, the social gaming firm will let go about 5 percent of its fulltime workforce.

Zynga also will sunset 13 games--titles are currently unknown, although Pincus notes the company is "significantly reducing [its] investment in The Ville," a Sims-like title introduced this June. "These reductions, along with our ongoing efforts to implement more stringent budget and resource allocation around new games and partner projects, will improve our profitability and allow us to reinvest in great games and our Zynga network on web and mobile," Pincus said.