Word is spreading today that social game guru Zynga plans to close its office in Oxford, one of the locations it acquired when it bought U.K. game/tech company NaturalMotion for $527 million in 2014.
It’s yet unclear how many devs, if any, will lose their jobs as a result; Zynga told PocketGamer in a statement today that it intends to transfer staff from the Oxford office to its other NaturalMotion offices in London and Brighton.
“In Q2 we wound down our third-party licensing and middleware businesses in Oxford, and today, after further review of that location, we’re announcing a proposal to close our Oxford office,“ reads an excerpt of Zynga’s statement.
“We’re constantly evaluating our business and exploring ways to concentrate our teams and better support our forever franchises and new IP. Much of the work done in our Oxford office currently supports products in development in our Brighton and London locations, so we see an opportunity to redeploy and increase our talent in those studios.”
Gamasutra has reached out to Zynga for further clarification regarding how many jobs may be lost as a result of this decision. If you or someone you know has been affected by these layoffs, you can email Gamasutra to share your story confidentially.