Zynga loses its third-party head honcho

In the wake of social game company Zynga laying off hundreds of staff and closing down multiple studios, the man leading Zynga's third-party efforts has announced that he is no longer working with the company. Rob Dyer was originally hired in 2011, and tasked with cultivating and maintaining Zynga’s relationships with external development partners, as well as assisting developers with their monetization strategies. Prior to this role, Dyer was SVP of publisher relations at Sony Computer Entertainment, president at Eidos, and president at Crystal Dynamics. In a statement, the industry veteran noted that he is pursuing other opportunities within the mobile and social game space. Dyer did not specify whether he quit the company, or was let go during the recent round of layoffs. Update: Zynga has also confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that Andy Tian, the head of its China offices, will leave the company at the end of this month. Tian was Zynga's China general manager for three years. He will be succeeded by John Yin, who was previously an executive producer for Electronic Arts Mobile in Asia.