As part of a major effort to trim costs and focus more on mobile strategy, online gaming company Zynga is laying off 520 staffers — or about 18% of its workforce, according to a company press release.

The company, which is now expected to save $80 million in employee costs, will also close its offices in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. The reductions will occur across all job divisions and be complete by August 2013, the company said. SEE ALSO: 10 Classic Video Games You Can Play Online for Free

"None of us ever expected to face a day like today, especially when so much of our culture has been about growth," CEO and Founder Mark Pincus wrote to employees in a memo. "But I think we all know this is necessary to move forward. The scale that served us so well in building and delivering the leading social gaming service on the Web is now making it hard to successfully lead across mobile and multiplatform, which is where social games are going to be played."

Pincus emphasized the importance of mobile for the success of the company moving forward:

"These moves, while hard to face today, represent a proactive commitment to our mission of connecting the world through games," he said. "Mobile and touch screens are revolutionizing gaming. Our opportunity is to make mobile gaming truly social by offering people new, fun ways to meet, play and connect. By reducing our cost structure today we will offer our teams the runway they need to take risks and develop these breakthrough new social experiences."

Zynga also updated its outlook for the second quarter of 2013 to a net loss of $39 million to $28.5 million. In April, it reported a strong performance of its game Farmville 2, which boasts more than 40 million monthly users, but the company said overall active and daily users were down 13% in the same quarter from the year before.

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