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

heh

Oh Microsoft.

Man, those pre-sale numbers must be really below expectations.

Get to the choppaaaa!!!!

Going from Xbone to a company that kills off and completely wipes some of their games from the face of the Internet and tells the people foolish enough to waste money on them to "fuck off" what a match made in heaven!

I honestly can't stop laughing. The guy was a horrible CEO. Imagine telling people to get their older console rather than their new one, Jesus Christ this guy obviously can't into marketing.

Colossal failures are a vital part of Zynga's portfolio so this move makes sense.

You know, the logical progression.

Hahahaha, WHAT!? Say what you will about the XB1, but it sure is leading to a lot of entertaining news.

the plot thickens...

In other words...

Right. Jump off a boat with a whole in it to board a boat that is already 4/5 submerged.

no wonder matrick was sounding like a complete asshole he simply stopped caring he was leaving.

...

Microsoft is all in a shuffle these days.

I'm surprised anyone wants him in an executive position after the colossal failure of the One announcement.

Holy shit Mattrick, you are on a ROLL with those poor decisions...

Microsoft it totally a fad, makes sense to move to a good stable company like Zynga.

Pachter guessed he would go to EA after the XBO release. Aren't they still in need of a CEO or did they hire someone?

I don't even..

I wish Ballmer wasn't too high up to take his spot. How do you counter Jack Tretton? With a raving nutjob who would charge the stage during Sony's conference and TEAR HIS FUCKING THROAT OUT.

Doubt Allard will be even close to there though. If I remember correctly when Allard left there was a lot of talk that it was because he was often at odds with Ballmer.

I wonder if he left or if he got fired, hmm... man there are so many possibilities, he could've made the DRM thing or he could've been the one that wanted to remove it, did he think the xbox one was stupid and just left before it was released? did he get an enormous amount of money from Zynga? guess maybe we'll know or not.

Never did like Microsoft's policies or the way they looked at their consumer base, but this little rat bastard was at the top of the shit list. So glad he gets knocked down a peg. Hope Zynga goes bottom up fast and he gets what he deserves.

This is too freaking weird. Especially at a time like this.

So who is heading the XBOX division now? This is just going all sorts of wrong for Microsoft.

And will be missed by absolutely no one.

Don Mattrick's first letter to Zynga employees.

This sounds kinda funny to me:

Only Zynga combines engineering, industry-leading product management and analytics to deliver products that strike a chord with consumers and add real value in their lives.

Probably, I doubt Mattrick and Zynga would sign something in less than a month.

Then again, I doubt Microsoft is going to be happy: considering everything after the Xbox One reveal, this is less a "gracious exit for better opportunities" and more "a disgruntled employee smearing his boss' desk with poop and leaving his resignation letter".

Seems like a perfect fit!

Now he won't get into trouble for giving stupid answers regarding always-on DRM...

This did not happen because of E3, it was in the works well before.

GEE! I WONDER WHY HE'S BEE FIRED OFFERED A BETTER JOB SOMEWHERE ELSE. What a prick. Good riddance.

Poor Zynga...

Oh wait.

I feel you.

So, by the transitive property, do I now dislike Don Mattrick?

Guess he wasn't getting enough 'tears of children' at Microsoft.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out assbag. Good riddance

good riddance. the sony guys are much better personas with the public now.

wonder who's filling his spot.

Wow. I wish I understood more about the internal politics of this. On the face it seems like it could be a challenging, but overall positive, change for the Xbox One. So much of what is wrong in the Xbox One has more to do with marketing and productization rather than core engineering. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this.

I've never seen a corporation so big change course so quickly and so successfully as Microsoft has several times in the last 20 years. I'm honestly curious if they can still pull that off.

Welp.

Not surprising at all to me. MS's flip flop on all the DRM policies signaled this. Basically MS reversed all of Mattrick's work and ideas. He probably started looking for a place to land immediately. His overall PR and interview demeanor were so god damned god awful I feel none sorry for him too.

"You still here ? Get the hell out of my Office"

- Steve Ballmer

I think this is the perfect fit for the Don. Zynga's biggest demographic (by a huge margin) is stay-at-home moms. I think Mattrick's gaming sensibilities will jive more with them, than the xbox demo.

"I joined Zynga because I believe that Mark will pay me a shit load more money then Microsoft ever will"

there it's fixed now.

Welcome Allard back to the tribe

lol, this piece of shit destroys the xbox then when he realizes what he's done he hops ship to a company that's ALMOST as scummy as he is.

"Zynga has brought plagiarized games to the mainstream. Marks pioneering vision of one day plagiarizing all games ever made is why I have stepped on board. I can't wait to begin reskinning classic games, slap microtransactions on them, and push them out to the drooling hordes."

-Don Mattrick

YES! THIS IS THE BEST NEWS ALL YEAR

https://twitter.com/nyyphil/status/351765077784924160

While he did turn out a successful product and provided the Xbox division with a direction, that direction involved Kinect and a convoluted new Xbox that in retrospect was bound to earn this kind of blowback.

Given his desire to go casual, connected, and broad and all, he's definitely a fit at Zynga. The real question is who takes over his position at Microsoft.

On a side note, I wonder how long ago he was decided this and whether him already knowing at E3 was what gave him little reason to give a shit. It would certainly make sense but ultimately speculation.