Zipper Interactive is the studio behind the popular SOCOM fps series. It had also seen some success with games such as Mechwarrior 3 and Crimson Skies before joining with Sony.
Sony has made no comment as to whether or not this is an impending decision or speculation due to their policy against discussing rumors or speculation. Despite this, sources say that Zipper is in the process of canceling projects and laying off employees which, due to the number of layoffs, indicate the shut-down of the studio.
This shutdown could be a result of the failure of some of it’s latest projects, such as MAG, on the PS3, seeing as it was an integral part of Sony during the PS2 era. Couple this with the bad luck from the latest SOCOM title being released in the middle of the 2011 PS3 downtime, the shutdown is no surprise seeing as the studio is hanging on by a thread.
Despite these reasons, with no confirmation from Sony, this remains only speculation.