Hacking Group Anonymous has threatened to target Zynga, according to a post on the group's official news channel and a since-deleted YouTube video (but it was removed because it was considered a "violation of YouTube's policy on depiction of harmful activities") which suggests that the social game company is planning further layoffs which threaten to bring about "the end of the US game market as we know it".
Zynga announced plans to lay off 150 employees last week and shut down a number of its offices, as it looks to make savings of between $15 and $20 million. The operation, dubbed maZYNGA, will consist of the shutting down of Facebook - the platform on which Zynga games are hosted - and the distribution of previously obtained Zynga game codes for free.
"During the last few days anonymous has been targeting Zynga for the outrageous treatment of their employees and their actions against many developers. We have come to believe that this actions of Zynga will result in massive layoff of a thousand people and legal actions against everyone that speaks to the public about this plan," Anonymous said, according to a transcript of the YouTube video posted to the AnonNews forum.
The group has claimed to have accessed Zynga's server and has obtained confidential communication to executives about the company's strategy, which allegedly includes plans for further layoffs and increased outsourcing to Bangalore, India.
The documents were published but have been pulled from the internet as Zynga claimed they were copyright infringement.
