There was a huge number of layoffs across multiple studios, as confirmed by Zynga CEO Mark Pincus. Zynga are known for launching various browser-based games (among other things), most popular of which is the Facebook sensation Farmville. Anyway, Pincus revealed that the company reduced 5% of its total staff, in addition to shutting down its Boston studio and Japan and UK studios.

The company is "sunsetting 13 older games," as explained in a letter offered to VentureBeat. They are also cutting investment in The Ville, which, incidentally, is facing an infringement suit from EA.

"We don't take these decisions lightly as we recognize the impact to our colleagues and friends who have been on this journey with us," Pincus wrote in the letter. "We appreciate their amazing contributions and will miss them. We will all be discussing these difficult changes more with our teams and as a company. I'm confident this puts us on the right path to deliver on the promise of social gaming and make Zynga into an Internet treasure."

Well, the global economy is flying headfirst into the toilet if the makers of Farmville are forced to cut staff. Obviously, they haven't heard of Kickstarter. I hear publishers love to exploit that thing lately.

Source.