Zynga closes Japanese branch, kills off 11 social games

As Zynga scrambles to cut costs, the company is closing down its Japanese branch, and has also shut down nearly a dozen of its social games. Zynga is currently shifting its budget and resource allocations around, with ongoing efforts to improve its profitability in both browser games and mobile games. A notice on the website for Zynga Japan states that the company will be dissolved on January 31, 2013. Zynga Japan was originally founded in 2010 as a collaboration between Zynga and Softbank. The joint venture was hoping to tap into Japan's history of gaming, while leveraging Softbank's mobile and web technology. Meanwhile, Zynga also killed off 11 of its online games during December -- again, in a bid to reduce its costs such that it can focus on new titles. According to TechCrunch, those games closed down include Mafia Wars 2, PetVille and Indiana Jones Adventure World.