Microsoft’s Xbox chief Don Mattrick is leaving the company to join struggling online game creator Zynga, it was announced on Monday.
Mattrick will take over as Zynga’s new chief executive next week, according to Zynga founder and current chief executive Mark Pincus, in a note to employees.
Mattrick guided the development of the Xbox One which is due to hit stores later this year. He joins Zynga as the company looks to recreate the success it enjoyed a few years ago when Facebook games like Farmville and Words with Friends made the company the darling of social network investors.
The company has since fallen on hard times and recently laid off 18 per cent of its employees.
Zynga statement: >http://blog.zynga.com/2013/07/01/big-day/