Mallet ditches EA to head up King.com’s new London studio

EA has suffered the ignominy of yet another executive departing in favour of a role at a casual and social gaming firm.

At least this time it wasn’t Zynga – former development director at EA-owned studio Playfish Catharina Lavers Mallet has accepted a role with King.com that will see her heading up its new London office.

Speculation about Mallet’s future at Playfish has been doing the rounds since last week. Indeed, there are some who believe that EA is preparing significant layoffs at the casual studio that it acquired for over $300m in November 2009.

She had been working on what was described as a triple-A social title”, though to date the project has not seen the light of day.

I am thrilled to be setting up a new studio for King.com,” said Mallet. I am excited by the company’s vision to be number one in the casual social games category, and have been very impressed by the team and the original IP they have built.”