Zynga has announced it is to close its Baltimore studio and restructure its operations in New York and Texas in a bid to cut costs.

The social gaming giant released a statement claiming the changes are designed to drive profitability, with cuts following on from the closure of Zynga's Boston and Tokyo offices in the latter months of 2012.

Zynga's Baltimore office is to be closed outright, while staff working in New York will be moved to the company's existing mobile studio in the city.

No friends here

Interestingly, the studio born out of Zynga's acquisition of Words With Friends outfit Newtoy in 2010 is also to be closed, with staff relocating to bases in Dallas and North Austin.

"In an effort to leverage resources as we focus on creating franchises and driving profitability, Zynga has made changes to four of our US offices," said CCO David Ko in a statement.

"We are closing the McKinney, Texas and downtown Austin offices and relocating those teams near-by to our existing Dallas and North Austin offices. And, we will be consolidating our NYC offices to move staff to our NYC mobile studio. Also, as a part of today's changes, the Baltimore studio will be closed.

"While these decisions are always difficult, these steps will affect approximately 1 percent of our workforce and enable us to focus our resources on the most significant growth opportunities."

Previous closures and restructuring enabled Zynga to narrow its losses to $209 million in FY2012.

[source: VentureBeat]