Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

New Zynga CEO Mattrick is sharpening his ax for unprofitable games

Published Jul 26th, 2013 7:40PM EDT
Zynga CEO Mattrick Interview

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

Former Xbox boss Don Mattrick knew he would be in for a challenge when he took over as CEO of Zynga, but you have to imagine he has days when he wishes he was still back at Microsoft. To get a scope of just how bad things are at Zynga, consider that the company lost 25% of its daily active users over the span of just one quarter. Mattrick isn’t panicking, however, as he tells Forbes that he has a plan to get the Farmville developer back on track.

“I’m also going to use the next 90 days to assess and reset our product pipeline,” Mattrick told Forbes, which means that he’ll be wielding a sharp ax to cut games that aren’t up to par. All the same, Mattrick expects the next six months to be a rough ride for the company and projects that there will be “two to four quarters of volatility as we work through resetting and developing our strategy for growing topline revenue and profit.”

Mattrick reportedly left Microsoft earlier this month because he was unhappy with CEO Steve Ballmer’s plans to reorganize the company around devices and services.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.