Don Mattrick leaves Zynga; Pincus returns as CEO

Zynga CEO Don Mattrick has left less than two years after joining the company, with former boss Mark Pincus reinstated as chief exec.

No reason was given for Mattrick’s departure. Co-founder Mark Pincus, who is re-taking the reigns after stepping down from the role two years ago, thanks the former Xbox boss for his work at the company.

Pincus said however that as a "mobile-first company", it was "time to renew our focus on our vision to make play and social games a mass market activity".

He added his plan as CEO was to "accelerate innovation" in genres such as action strategy.

"I want to thank Don for his incredible efforts and leadership. He has laid groundwork that will benefit our players and company into the future," said Pincus.

"Don joined us at a very important time in our evolution. In less than two years under his guidance, our teams have worked hard to better serve our mobile players and deliver world class quality and value to our consumers.

"This hard work for our mobile players has resulted in bookings growing from 27 per cent mobile when Don joined to 60 per cent by the end of last year. Further, to deliver unique and differentiated value to our mobile players, Don and the team acquired NaturalMotion. NaturalMotion has surprised and delighted the world with Clumsy Ninja and CSR Racing resulting in more than 160 million installs.

"Now that we are a mobile first company, it’s time to renew our focus on our vision to make play and social games a mass market activity.

"I am inspired by our upcoming products – it is the most exciting slate of mobile games in Zynga’s history with titles like Empires & Allies, Dawn of Titans and FarmVille: Harvest Swap. These games are coming on the heels of one of the most successful mobile launches in our history with Wizard of Oz Slots, which was launched this past November by our Spooky Cool team in Chicago.

"I am returning to the company that I love in order to accelerate innovation in the most popular categories like Action Strategy and strengthen our focus on our core areas like Invest and Express. I look forward to partnering with our leaders to intensify our focus on social experiences for the millions of consumers who play our games."

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