EA exec departs for Zynga

Experienced industry professional Steven Chiang has put an end to his 12 years at Electronic Arts by joining the rising social game group Zynga.

Chiang joined EA back in 1998 when the publisher acquired then-indie studio Tiburon. He quickly climbed the ranks to executive producer, then studio general manager, before becoming senior vice president in 2007.

Zynga – a social network game develop growing at an extraordinary pace – has appointed Chaing as game studios president.

The firm’s CEO Mark Pincus said Chaing will allow Zynga to “double down and deliver” on its social gaming ambitions.

Said Pincus: “Steve brings a unique combination of start-up entrepreneurship with scale game management to his role as president of our game studios.

“Steve has 17 years of game experience, of which he spent the last 15 [sic] at Electronic Arts.

“At EA, he was most recently the senior vice president and group general manager for EA SPORTS where he oversaw the Madden NFL series, one of the all-time bestselling video game franchises in North America.

Zynga remains placed as one of the fastest-growing game studios in the world, but still continues to aggressively accelerate its reach and capacity by opening a string of new studios in quick succession.

[SPECIAL REPORT: ZYNGA’S FEARSOME EXPANSION]