John Schappert resigns from Zynga

An SEC filing has revealed John Schappert has resigned from his role as COO at Zynga.

The news comes no more than a week following Schappert’s reported removal from his game development duties with the company.

"We can confirm that John Schappert has left Zynga and its Board of Directors effective immediately," Zynga CEO Mark Pincus told Polygon. "John has made significant contributions to the games industry throughout his career and we appreciate all that he has done for Zynga. John leaves as a friend of the company and we wish him all the best."

The resignation comes in the midst of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by EA against the company, in which Schappert was individually named as one of the key executives with detailed, internal, strategic plans and development information related to EA’s effort to bring The Sims franchise to Facebook.”

The timing of it all is certainly eye-catching. One wonders if the change is as benign as Zynga suggests, or if this is something we look back at later and point to when talking about the results of EA’s lawsuit.