OMGPOP closure was not a surprise to staff, says former employee

The closure of Zynga's OMGPOP studio was not a surprise to staff who worked there, one former employee told Business Insider.

According to the unnamed staff member, work at the company slowed prior to the studio's eventual closure. While previously the team, led by former studio head Dan Porter, managed up to five individual IP, now team members were primarily tasked with performing bug fixes on the company's popular Draw Something 2.

"You could almost feel things were slowing down," said the employee. "We were all champing at the bit for something new."

According to the employee, staff members were informed immediately of the studio's closure after being called for a meeting by a Zynga executive and office HR personnel.

"There were no hard facts or figures. No real explanation. Just typical corporate BS," said the employee. "Everyone was just like, 'Yep.' Not surprised at all. It was like the weight had been lifted off our shoulders, that a decision had finally been made."

OMGPOP was acquired by Zynga for $183 million in March 2012. Several OMGPOP employees, including community manager Joseph Alminawi and VP of outreach Ali Nicolas, tweeted this week about the studio's closure and the resulting layoffs.

Former CEO of OMGPOP Dan Porter left Zynga just several days before the Draw Something 2 launch, which was released in April in the U.S. as a free-to-play app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.