Zynga to lay off 18pc of its global workforce

7 May 2015

Zynga cuts jobs to save costs

As part of its ongoing restructure, Zynga – which recently reinstalled founder Mark Pincus as CEO – is to lay off 18pc of its global workforce, or 364 people, as part of a US$100m cost-reduction programme.

Zynga has said it will narrow its focus to five categories of mobile games rather than expanding into a diverse array of genres.

In recent weeks Zynga CEO Don Mattrick stepped down and was replaced by founder Mark Pincus.

As part of the cost-cutting drive Zynga is cutting staff from corporate and central services and is exiting the sports genre.

The company employs close to 100 people in Dublin, who provide support services.

Zynga rose to prominence with the success of Farmville and then Cityville and excelled through a partnership with Facebook. However, it has struggled with the rising tide of mobile games and in particular the rise of players like Supercell and King.com and games like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga.

Zynga image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com