Report: Don Mattrick Leaving Microsoft for...Zynga? [UPDATE: It's Official]

the fuck?????

Didn't Zynga get closed down? Was that a thing?

And also; Holy F*ck. This is a shocker.

Time for Microsoft to shuffle the deck. Their turn after Sony.

I hope it's true. Send Mattrick off to an irrelevant company. Like sending a spy to a radar post in Alaska.

"Well, I've done all I can here."

It seems odd, considering the XBONE was pretty much Mattrick's baby, that he would leave it for Zynga. I wonder if it's just someone looking out for himself and finding a better job (provided this is true), or if it's someone jumping ship on a product. I feel like there's a slight difference.

Um.... ok.

Yeah, I was under the impression Zynga wasn't around anymore. Huh.

Oh my fucking god, that's poetic.

@therealmoot: No, they just keep closing down all their satellite studios, most recently killing off OMGPOP (Draw Something) and their Boston and Austin studios.

It makes sense that Matrick might be looking for an out after that report about Balmer's reorganization plans came out that suggests Matrick's position might not be so safe, but going to Zynga would be a turn for the weird.

Confirmed: Farmville will now require always onli...oh yeah.

Can't fuck up Zynga anymore then they have right?

WTF!!

J. Allard?????

Zynga still exists but the company has major financial troubles.

Basically I think that the company expanded too fast and then found out that the games that they developed didnt really produce enough income to support the staff that they had.

Also zynga should have probably concentrated on quality over quantity.

I said it before and I'll say it again... WTH is going on behind the scenes at MS? The president of their company is leaving for a failing game publisher months before the launch of their first console in nearly a decade? Yikes!

Like i said in the forum post: seems fitting.

Time for them to start thawing out J. Allard

Was Don Mattrick the face of the Xbox One and all its new policies and whatnot? If so, then this sort of makes sense, I guess, since Zynga's into the casual market, too.

If this turns out to be true then E3 will never be the same again. It's all about dat hair flip.

Weird choice for a new job if it's true.

This is what people in the business call a "Future Endeavor"

What the hell, right before a console release?! If this turns out to be true, it will be one hell of a story.

This makes too much sense.

This just seems... odd.

Seems more appropriate for such a tool.

Say goodbye to that wavery hair, say hello to all that stress.

Ohhh, he is going to Zynga! Now I understand the nonsense he has been spurting for the last weeks. He was training for his new job.

It makes good sense after all.

I'm actually not that surprised to see him leave. After the Xbone failure and his stupid remarks it was rather obvious to me that he will leave MS one way or the other. Why he would go to Zynga....I don't know. And tbh I don't really care.

Too bad he didn't "leave" a month ago. Mr. Foot in Mouth

I imagine that such a hard core policy change sort of fundamentally changes the direction of the machine or even what it's capable of doing. Given the shit he's received (and somewhat rightly so) and the reversal, I can see where he doesn't have it in him to keep going and instead go to a position that's probably better for him anyway.

I'm sure the internet will have 3 million metric tons of snark shipped in just for this occasion.

I wonder if he was pressured to leave by MS, after the Xbone PR disaster around e3.

Mattrick is the president of the "interactive entertainment business" but the board of directors includes following people:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/bod.aspx

Steve Ballmer is the "Chief executive officer". Don Mattrick is one of the senior leaders at Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/slt.aspx

Mattrick to himself in the mirror this morning: "Abandon the motherfucking ship !!"

I just see this guy driving sports cars and doing cocaine.

That is some of the funniest news I've heard in a while, and seems totally appropriate. Throw him from the (previously) teetering ship onto a sinking one.

@canucks23: It's probably safe to assume so.

good riddance

Was wondering when Mattrick would be pushed out, after the PR debacle of the Xbox One.

Don Mattrick is God's mistake.

sorry that's like the worst thing i've ever said

Doesn't seem like the type of guy I'd want to hire to keep my company from sinking tbh. Xbone announcement is probably one of the worst in recent history, I'm sure microsoft wouldn't mind letting him go but i'm not sure why zynga would want him?

@thegorilla: Except he'll go from making millions of dollars to making millions of dollars, and not be in Alaska.

There is no way he wasn't fired. I thought this had to come after all that has happened.

Haha...haha...

Good I saw this coming xbox started to suck when he took over back in 2010 or what ever it has been going downhill until we got to the new xbox crap. He don't know what people want. the xbox one in design and everything else was his final screw up.

That kinect crap mostly started under his control.

the xbox one design sucks balls and all this happend under his watch and direction.

Bring back J allard and peter moore!

J allard is the real deal that is why xbox 360 and the 1st xbox ruled and you could get the fucking oddworld games on the machine back then.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-06-13-right-now-oddworld-new-n-tasty-isnt-coming-to-xbox-one-or-xbox-360

That is how you make and launch a fucking game console.

Seriously, could he have gone to a more perfect company? lol

Zynga stock price goes up 12% following the rumor.

I never liked Don, but whats for sure is that he's not to blame for Microsoft's problems, he's just a spokesperson.