Monday will go down as a dark day in Zynga's history. The gaming company laid off more than 500 employees, or about 18% of its staff, and shut down offices in Los Angeles, Dallas and New York in an effort to cut costs and shift its focus to mobile.
Many Zynga employees took to Twitter in the hours that followed to express their shock and frustration at the news:
Worst case of the Mondays ever. Just got laid off from Zynga.— Phil Cory (@NameTaken33) June 3, 2013
Thanks for the concern everyone. Yep, I've been laid off (along with most of the studio). I'll share more details soon after I do my exit...— Joseph Alminawi (@swiftor) June 3, 2013
Some apparently didn't learn they had been laid off until the news had already broken online:
I learned via Facebook I was laid off today and @omgpop office is closed. Thanks @zynga for again reminding me how not to operate a business— Ali Nicolas (@ali_nicolas) June 3, 2013
Other employees managed to find some silver lining in an otherwise lousy day:
Well, I won't lie to you guys. Today pretty much sucked. But I saw Iron Man 3 finally so, you know, I want to be a superhero now.— Alexis De Girolami (@VernaVenisa) June 4, 2013
Even those Zynga employees who weren't laid off admitted having a terrible day:
Man, today has been a really really really rough day.— Matthew Rex (@matthewrex) June 3, 2013
Just so you all know, I was not affected by the news today, but good friends were. Rough day. Best of luck to everyone affected.— Matthew Rex (@matthewrex) June 3, 2013
Everytime I think about the #layoffs my thoughts become selfish. "Now I need to make new work friends?" "who am I going to eat lunch with?"— Cassandra (@TreesDanceAlone) June 4, 2013
Before rumors spread: Yes, Zynga laid off a whopping 18% of all employees. I still have my job... not happy though. techcrunch.com/2013/06/03/zyn…— Certified Hugwolf (@WolfPupTK) June 3, 2013