Social gaming developer Zynga has recently fallen on hard times, but the company is working hard to re-establish itself as one of the leaders in the market. To help achieve this goal, Zynga has enlisted in the help of Don Mattrick, a former Microsoft executive that worked with the Xbox gaming console.

Mattrick will assume the role of CEO. Former CEO Mark Pincus will take a back seat, continuing to work as the company’s chairman and chief product officer. He also has a 61% voting stake, so he will continue to be a leader at the company.

"He can execute in multiple domains – hardware, software and network,” Pincus says about his company’s new CEO “He's been the person responsible for game franchises like 'Need for Speed,' 'FIFA' and 'The Sims’.” At the moment, this seems to be the perfect solution for Zynga. When the company first launched in 2007, it experienced a great deal of success with games like Farmville and Zynga Poker – but the success did not last.

As the social gaming market became increasingly competitive, Zynga fell by the wayside while other developers like EA and King took over. Zynga attempted to recover lost revenue by entering the real-world online gambling market, but Zynga Plus Poker and Zynga Plus Casino are still struggling to compete with more established online casino operators.

Now, is the time for Zynga to look for an entirely unique approach to social gaming, and the company has done exactly that. No other social gaming operator has experience in the console gaming world. This unique perspective will give Zynga a leg-up on its competitors as Mattrick can provide Zynga with that same insight that has kept Xbox afloat in a competitive core gaming market

. "Zynga is a great business that has yet to realize its full potential,” Mattrick says. “I'm proud to partner with Mark to deliver high-quality, fun, social games wherever people want to play."

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