While we were thinking about how post-release developer layoffs may do more harm than good, Zynga was busy laying off most of their Austin-based studio. Ian Miles Cheong at Gameranx has the gorey details:
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.