Something went wrong. Try again later
    Follow

    Don Mattrick

    Person » credited in 70 games

    Don Mattrick is the former Chief Executive Officer of social games developer Zynga and former President of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft.

    Short summary describing this person.

    Don Mattrick last edited by hunkyhairshaver on 10/31/23 11:51AM View full history

    History

    A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, he has served on several public and private boards, including the advisory board for USC School of Cinematic Arts and the Premier’s Technology Council in British Columbia and has been an active member of the province’s business and educational community. In 2003, Mattrick was named one of America’s “Top Ten Influentials” in Fortune magazine’s annual “40 Under 40” list for his contributions to Electronic Arts’ expansion initiatives.

    In 2005, the World Economic Forum appointed him to its Forum of Young Global Leaders, a group of 100 young leaders chosen to address the challenges of the 21st century. In acknowledgement of his role in building EA’s business in British Columbia and the active development of industry links with the University of British Columbia, Mattrick received the UBC Award as an Honorary Fellow from the Sauder School of Business in December 2005. In 1999, Simon Fraser University awarded him the highest honor the university can bestow, the Doctor of Laws.

    Early Career

    Prior to joining Microsoft in 2007, Mattrick was the President of Electronic Arts worldwide and at the age of 17, was one of the founding members of Vancouver based Distinctive Software in 1982 which later became Electronic Arts Canada in 1991. Distinctive Software was an independent studio working with most of the industry leaders and was one of the biggest content creators for entertainment and educational games.

    As President of Electronic Arts Worldwide he oversaw EA’s global studios and research and development in several major sites, including Redwood Shores, Calif. (Silicon Valley), EALA in Los Angeles, EA Tiburon in Florida, EA Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Montreal, and EA UK Studio in Chertsey, England. Mattick's game credits include games in the Need for Speed franchise and Test drive was instrumental in championing titles like the Sims and Harry Potter. Mattrick left EA in September in 2005 which the company once considered him as a possible candidate to take over as Chief Executive Officer. When asked why he resigned, Mattrick claims he was uninterested in "running a public company."

    Microsoft

    Mattrick joined Microsoft in 2007 as an advisor for its Entertainment and Devices division and just five months later in July, he replaced Peter Moore as Senior Vice President responsible for running their Interactive Entertainment Business unit which includes Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Live services. In October 2010, he was promoted to President of the unit. Mattrick was instrumental in overseeing the Kinect camera device for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and showing off the Xbox One to the public in 2013.

    Zynga

    On July 1st, 2013 it was announced that Mattrick would end his long tenure with Microsoft to take over the role of Chief Executive Officer at Zynga. On April 8th, 2015, it was announced that Mattrick had resigned "effective immediately" from his role as CEO. His replacement, Zynga founder Mark Pincus, described the departure as "amicable".

    sizepositionchange
    sizepositionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    bordersheaderpositiontable
    positionchange

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.