Don Mattrick has left mobile games company Zynga less than two years after being appointed CEO.
The former head of Xbox announced his resignation last night to pursue new opportunities in Canada. He will be replaced by former CEO Mark Pincus.
“When I joined the company in July 2013, Mark and I shared a vision of building a meaningful company that redefines entertainment in an increasingly mobile world,” said Mattrick. “I am proud of the progress we have made together. 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. As a company, Zynga is in a stronger position today to serve mobile consumers and take advantage of the unprecedented growth opportunity across our industry. I am excited about the company’s trajectory and wish the best for Mark, Zynga and NaturalMotion as I plan to return to Canada to pursue my next challenge.”
Pincus thanked Mattrick for his contributions to the company.
“Don joined us in a very important time in our evolution,” he said. “I sincerely thank him for his leadership in better serving our players in a mobile first world and for delivering world class quality and value to our consumers.”
He continued: “Now that we are a mobile first company, it’s time to renew our focus on our founding mission to connect the world through games and our vision to make play and social games a mass market activity. 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.”
Source: zynga.com
