In what it calls a "difficult but necessary" move, Waltham, MA-based Zoo Tycoon and now World Of Zoo developer Blue Fang Games says that it has laid off 15 staffers from its development team.

"While we are saddened beyond words that we cannot continue to employ these talented individuals, we are also confident and excited about our studio’s future," said Blue Fang president Hank Howie in a statement to Gamasutra.

The reduction represents about 25 percent of the workforce, according to Blue Fang, leaving it at approximately 45 full-time staffers.

The company says it's built new proprietary tools and tech for multi-platform development that reduce time and resources. "While this provides a tremendous benefit to our overall business, it unavoidably means we needed to adjust both the size and mix of our development team going forward," Howie continues. "With today’s staff reductions, we have made these necessary team adjustments."

The studio, which is primarily known for its successful Microsoft-published Zoo Tycoon series on PC, continues to develop the recently-announced World of Zoo, to be published by THQ this holiday.

"We wish all of the folks who are leaving us every future success," Howie concludes.