Zynga Shutters 11 Of Its Social Video Games

Zynga has instituted its cost-reduction plan that the company talked about back in November. The cost-reduction plan involved shutting down some of the company's video games, or at least accepting no new players in others ahead of shutdown in the coming weeks. The game developer plans to allocate its resources to its more popular games.

Closing video games altogether or eliminating new player registrations also goes along with layoffs for Zynga as the company seeks to squeeze more profit out of its operation. When the company made its IPO, its stock was trading for $10 per share and more recently, it's trading at only $2.33 per share. So far, Zynga has laid off over 100 employees and closed some of its development offices.

The game PetVille shut down on December 30 along with Mafia Wars 2. FishVille shutdown on December 5 along with Vampire Wars and Treasure Isle. The game Indiana Jones Adventure World is closed to new players but will shut down fully until January 14.

Zynga pulled the videogame Mafia Wars Shakedown from app stores along with Forestville, Mojitomo, and Word Scramble Challenge. The game title Montopia shutdown on December 21. Some players aren't taking the shutdowns of their favorite videogames well. It's understandable if you spent years fixing up your virtual aquarium in FishVille and spending your real-world money on upgrades only to have the game unceremoniously canceled, you wouldn't be happy. Zynga offered players of that title and some others a bonus package of virtual goods for one of the more popular games such as Mafia Wars, Farmville 2 or others.

[via TechCrunch]