When news broke out that the former boss of Xbox, Dan Mattrick, was leaving the company to become CEO of the mobile game developer Zynga, many were shocked to find out that the man who revealed the Xbox One to the public would be leaving Microsoft. However, Bloomberg reveals that Mattrick wanted Microsoft to buy the developer at its peak in popularity in 2010, which would have undoubtedly changed the face of mobile gaming if the sale went through.
According to the report, Mattrick was impressed with the developer, which was dominating the Facebook game market at the time, and wanted Microsoft to buy the developer to help boost Microsoft's line of social media games and add the millions upon millions of users that Zynga boasted at the time. When the talks to buy Zynga fell through, Mattrick and the founder of Zynga Marc Pincus stayed in touch, to the point that the two executives began riding road-bikes together in March of this year. It was during these bike rides that the idea of Mattrick leaving Microsoft to work as CEO of Zynga, which is in the midst of an epic decline in value. Now Mattrick will be working to try to turn that free fall around, all while making $40 million over the course of three years.
Some gamers may be suspicious of the timing of this jump, as the Xbox One has suffered greatly due to some controversial rules for the console. The console's previously had fees attached to used games and online check-ins (which both have been since been retracted), in addition to the development that Xbox One's high price point and focus on advertising has turned many gamers away from the next-gen console. Some believed that Mattrick leaving Microsoft was caused by these mistakes, but the Bloomberg report states that Mattrick and Pincus were discussing the move before the Xbox One was even revealed.
We shall see if Dan Mattrick can help turn around Zynga, or if the developer continues to go downhill.