14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Zynga is announcing that Don Mattrick, who has served as chief executive officer for more than a year, is leaving his position and the company effective immediately.
His position will be taken over by former CEO and founder Mark Pincus, who is apparently convinced that he is the only one capable of turning around the fortunes of the game maker.
Mattrick left Microsoft in order to join Zynga and was widely seen as the right person to offer the experience needed to reform the company and to transform it into a solid mobile game developer.
The now former CEO states, "I believe the timing is now right for me to leave as CEO and let Mark lead the company into its next chapter given his passion for the founding vision and his ability to couple our mobile progress with Zynga’s unique strengths."
Zynga is supposed to present financial results in May of this year, and the fact that the chief executive officer is leaving precipitously probably means that they will be worse than expected.
The company owes its relevance to Farmville, the Facebook-based title that was launched in 2009 and managed to gather a huge audience quickly.
Unfortunately, Zynga has not managed to replicate its success with other titles and at the moment is struggling to find a solid niche on the market to fill.