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Fresh off leading the controversial announcement of the Xbox One, Microsoft executive Don Mattrick has jumped ship to become the new CEO of game publisher Zynga.
All Things D reported the story this morning, and Zynga confirmed the switch in a press release later in the day. Founding chief executive officer Mark Pincus has left the position but will continue on as Zynga's chief product officer and chairman of the board of directors.
"Zynga is a great business that has yet to realize its full potential," Mattrick said in a statement. "I'm proud to partner with Mark to deliver high-quality, fun, social games wherever people want to play."
Last month, Zynga laid off 18 percent of its workforce. The explosive popularity of games like FarmVille got it off to a great start, but it has struggled with attempting to transition from Facebook games to mobile platforms.
The announcement of Xbox One had several bumps in the road; Microsoft announced that the game console, set to be released this November, would put severe restrictions on players' ability to rent or sell their game discs. Microsoft reversed the policy after many complaints, making the announcement in a blog post signed by Mattrick.
In a letter to Microsoft employees that the company posted publicly today, CEO Steve Ballmer said that Mattrick's direct reports would instead begin reporting to him.
