Zynga CEO Don Mattrick Resigns

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Zynga CEO Don Mattrick has officially stepped down from his position to make room for company co-founder and former CEO Mark Pincus.

Today, in a statement on the company's website, Pincus announced that he would be taking over Mattrick's parking space, a change that went into effect before the ink dried on the blog post.

Blogs use ink, right?

Here's snippet from Pincus's post:

I am writing to you today to share some significant news. Don is departing the company and I am returning to Zynga as CEO effective immediately.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.

Whenever a company uses the phrase "effective immediately" to describe a staffing decision, it always feels a little hostile. But according to Don Mattrick, today's baton-passing was a mutual decision.

In an interview with the New York Times, Mattrick brushed any hostility aside:

I believe the timing is now right for me to leave as C.E.O. 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.

To be fair, though, investors have been very critical of Mattrick's performance. In fact, BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield recently penned a report that was actually titled "Zynga Needs A New Leader – Time for Don Mattrick To Go." So, there's definitely some hostility, even if Mattrick and Pincus are avoiding it.

Before Mattrick joined the team in 2013, Zynga's primary business model revolved around data-driven development. The company would mine social networking statistics and look for trends that to capitalize on. But Mattrick worked at Electronic Arts and ran Microsoft's Xbox division before accepting Zynga's CEO spot. So, he wanted to refocus the company's development on high-quality games.

I'm sure many of you are giggling about the words "Zynga" and "high-quality games" being used in such close proximity, and that's understandable. In fact, it's the main reason that Mattrick needed to step aside. Zynga isn't a triple-A game developer. It's a company that made its fortune on Facebook when social media gaming was at its peak. But Facebook games have been declining for some time, and Zynga hasn't been able to make the transition to mobile devices, which is why Pincus is back in the driver's seat.

The New York Times caught up with Pincus, who confirmed that he plans to return Zynga to its roots:

We need to get back to being the leader in mobile data and analytics, which leads to the best product management in our games. I think I bring a DNA and passion, in that respect.

See how he snuck the word "analytics" into his response? Zynga's investors are probably already shopping for yachts.

Josh Engen