Zynga’s Ship is Sinking: Mass Layoffs

Zynga’s ship is sinking. 

We’ve gotten word from numerous sources at Zynga that the company has laid off over a hundred employees from its Austin-based studio, which employed developers to work on titles such as The Ville and Bingo.

We are told that the employees were given less than two hours to clear out their desks following their firings, which were done during Apple’s iPad Mini keynote event this morning. We speculate that firings were timed to avoid the bad press. 

Gameranx has also received similar, yet unconfirmed reports that Zynga’s offices in both its Chicago and Boston offices have been affected by layoffs. 

In addition to The Ville, which was the largest project in development at Zynga’s Austin studio, an unannounced IP has also been affected by the cuts and is presumed to be canceled as a result.

We’ll update this news story with further details as they become available.

Update #1: We've come to learn been tipped off that Zynga Boston has shuttered its doors. Dozens more have lost their jobs. 

In related news, online game developer Bigpoint has also announced mass lay-offs.