Mobile and social game company Zynga Inc. recently released its Q1 2015 financial results, which outperformed expectations, but in which the company announced it would lay off 18 percent of the company–364 people–in an effort to cut $100 million in costs.

Mark Pincus, founder and returning CEO of Zynga, said in a statement, “”For our people, we need to create an empowered, entrepreneurial culture that fosters more creativity and innovation. Over the years we’ve seen that tighter, more nimble teams can drive faster innovation and deliver more player value.”

He added that as part of the cost reduction, aside from layoffs, Zynga would decrease outside services and reduce central functions. He described the layoffs as “a hard but necessary decision and I believe this plan puts us in the best long term position for success.”

As part of a press release, Zynga said that the layoffs would be complete by the end of the year and produce about $45 million in savings. A further $55 million in reduced costs is expected by third quarter 2016.

The company also noted that it would refocus efforts around five game categories: Action Strategy, Social Casino, Invest & Express, Casual and Racing. The company also expects to launch between 6 and 8 new games in 2015.  This year, Zynga has already entered into the mobile Action Strategy and mobile Match 3 categories with Dawn of Titans, Empires & Allies, and FarmVille: Harvest Swap.

According to the report, Zynga’s core franchises–Farmville, Zynga Casino, and Words with Friends–resulted in 28% aggregate growth year over year. The report also shows that transition to mobile continues for the company with mobile bookings 63% of total bookings in first quarter 2015, up to 84% year over year.

As a gaming company, Zynga has a trend for layoffs and expansions, mostly through acquisitions. In January 2014, Zynga laid off 15 percent of its workforce–314 people–during troubled financial times. And in June 2013, Zynga laid off 18 percent of its staff–520 employees–and closed down a few offices.

Since its founding in 2007, Zynga has been a cultural mainstay of Facebook users with the Farmville series, launching the idiom “cow-clicker,” for a particular type of casual game Farmville belongs to. The company has seen ups and downs, lawsuits, and industry-wide criticism of corporate strategy. However, it has continued to persevere through a late 2011 IPO, and now year-over-year layoffs.

Current CEO Mark Pincus recently took over last month, returning as CEO to replace Don Mattrick, former Xbox executive, who was with the company for less than two years.

Photo credit: Zynga Inc., CEO Mark Pincus