Zynga shutters four studios, more than 500 employees lose jobs

Massive lay offs have hit social game studio Zynga, with AllThings D reporting that the studio is closing down its Los Angeles, New York, Austin and Dallas studios; it'll also lay off more than 520 of its employees.

The company's official blog confirmed this news as CEO Mark Pincus released an official statement which also revealed that the publisher's let go off about 18 percent of its total work force.

"None of us ever expected to face a day like today, especially when so much of our culture has been about growth," said Pincus. "But I think we all know this is necessary to move forward. The scale that served us so well in building and delivering the leading social gaming service on the Web is now making it hard to successfully lead across mobile and multiplatform, which is where social games are going to be played."

Zynga has also confirmed that all restructuring procedures will be completed by August this year. The firm has halted all trading activities on the Nasdaq in wake of the news. Despite this, VentureBeat reports the publishers stock fell 12%.