Zynga Quietly Lays Off Employees During Apple Event

Amidst all of today's hype and excitement for Apple's iPad mini event, there's another side of the spectrum that isn't doing so well today. Social-gaming development company Zynga has quietly laid off over 100 employees at its Austin branch. Reports are also saying that Zynga's Boston and Chicago studios are also experiencing sudden layoffs and even studio shutdowns.

Zynga's Austin studio develops the Bingo and The Ville games, and it's said that the layoffs will inevitably end development and support for these games. It's also said that employees were given just two hours to clean out their desks, which just adds insult to injury to a very sad day for Zynga and its now-former employees.

It's said that the layoffs happened during Apple's iPad mini event on purpose to avoid any press from finding out about it right away, which might explain the short two-hour time frame that the company gave the laid-off employees. It's also rumored that Zynga's Boston studio has completely shut down, ending development for Indiana Jones Adventure World.

Zynga hasn't been doing so well financially. They suffered a $23 million loss in Q2 2012, and they reportedly even handed out stock as an incentive to keep employees from leaving, which is rather odd since they're now cleaning house almost completely. We're almost positive that more details will arrive in the coming days, so be sure to stay tuned for more on this surprising development.

[via Gamasutra]