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[daxgame]

now take EA pls

 

[Illucio]

I bet Zynga lost more money hiring him then what little profit they made back was.

I don't care if the company goes or not, the games they make are terrible and filled with micro transitions to help you have not too much fun but somewhat fun.

 

[TheJoRu]

 

[spookyfish]

I wish *I* could eff up like that.

 

[Acquiescence]

Wouldn't it be really funny if Don Mattrick returned to Microsoft. That would be funny.

 

[Dsyndrome]

Trying to think of a "We make things for people like that..." joke but coming up blank.

 

[Salsa]

Metal Gear VI a Don Mattrick game

 

[Dictator93]

Mattrick, his arms wide.

When the walls fell.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Wouldn't it be really funny if Don Mattrick returned to Microsoft. That would be funny.

In a non-gaming division? Sure.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

If aliens ever invade earth, we should send mattrick up to their mothership

would do much more damage then a cold

 

[Xater]

Being a CEO seems kind of awesome. No matter how much you suck or get let go, someone will always still hire you and pay you a shit ton.

Too big to fail.

 

[Sephzilla]

Mattrick, his arms wide.


When the walls fell.

 

[TheSinkingKnight]

Ubisoft first.

lol no chance of that unless Yves quits and sells out.

 

[Tiktaalik]

Zynga was basically dead before he took over. It would have been an impressive achievement if he had actually turned it around. I don't know if it means that much that he failed to do so.

 

[chadskin]

OP updated with press release.

 

[Azih]

Mattrick's entire tenure at Microsoft was just leeching off a past legacy and dismantling the foundation his predecessors had built. MS had no first party and the Bone was designed by TV shills like Yusuf Mehdi by the time he was done.

 

[Macho Madness]

Zynga was basically dead before he took over. It would have been an impressive achievement if he had actually turned it around. I don't know if it means that much that he failed to do so.

He actually was though. He made a ton of positive moves in the company that were turning it around. I guess not enough.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Was he? I thought none of his changes had really achieved anything.

Did a quick google search on the news.

Mr. Mattrick, a longtime Electronic Arts executive who later ran Microsoft’s Xbox business, reoriented the company toward mobile and reduced its reliance on Facebook. Still, 51 percent of the company’s revenue last year came from Facebook games, according to company filings.

Games are a hit-driven business, and Zynga titles in recent years were never able to capture the cachet of games from mobile-centered companies, like Candy Crush Saga from King.com and Clash of Clans by Supercell.

The company’s finances continued to worsen under Mr. Mattrick. Revenue last year was $690 million, down from $1.28 billion in 2012, the year before Mr. Mattrick took over. The company’s net loss rose to $226 million last year from $209 million in 2012.

As growth slowed at Zynga, and the tech job market around it in San Francisco boomed, the company has struggled to hold onto talent. At the end of last year, about 42 percent of the company had been with Zynga for less than a year and 55 percent for less than two years. “We have experienced significant turnover in our head count over the last year, which has placed and will continue to place significant demands on our management and our operational, financial and technological infrastructure,” the company said in a filing.

Falling revenues, rising losses, a failure to diversify their platforms, and increasing employee turnover. Mattrick only had two years, and he got onboard a sinking ship, but the trajectory doesn't seem to have reversed as they had hoped.

 

[AmaterasuOni]

Is Mattrick going to do a hat-trick with a third company?

 

[Duxxy3]

And some awful board will hire him for another CEO position. Falling upwards yet again.

 

[Patryn]

He was spear heading the dumping of Facebook and moving to mobile, which is where their recent successes have been.

A trained chimp would have made the same transition.

 

[CaptainSlow]

If I were him and had the money and a house like this, I'd never work and just stay at home all day.

 

[McHuj]

back to xbox

 

[KiraXD]

makes me laugh...

 

[Macho Madness]

Did a quick google search on the news.


Falling revenues, rising losses, a failure to diversify their platforms, and increasing employee turnover. Mattrick only had two years, and he got onboard a sinking ship, but the trajectory doesn't seem to have reversed as they had hoped.

A lot of this is because there is no/little growth in Facebook games to be found anymore. That is a sinking ship. The company is going to have to shrink big before they can expand again.

 

[Fox Mulder]

And some awful board will hire him for another CEO position. Falling upwards yet again.

Zynga was swirling the bowl when he got hired. If he saved them, great. If not, no one would care.

 

[TheSinkingKnight]

Return to Canada...

... please don't get involved with Rockstar Toronto, Rockstar Quebec or Eidos Montreal.

 

[TheSlySoul]

Falling revenues, rising losses, a failure to diversify their platforms, and increasing employee turnover. Mattrick only had two years, and he got onboard a sinking ship, but the trajectory doesn't seem to have reversed as they had hoped.

So he took control of the Titanic only to hit another iceberg pretty much?

 

[Circinus]

Don Mattrick always seemed like a nice and genuine guy to me, but looks like people still attach some sort of stigma to him.

 

[Macho Madness]

A trained chimp would have made the same transition.

Well, the real news here (not that GAF will catch it) is that Pincus was the old CEO and his failures were worse than Mattrick's. He's the reason the company is where it is.

 

[cm osi]

dude is smart, he keeps getting hired only to have those exit bonus after a year

 

[Tiktaalik]

If I were him and had the money and a house like this, I'd never work and just stay at home all day.

He actually recently sold that house for $51 million http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-mansion-sells-for-more-than-51m-1.2989272

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Mattrick's entire tenure at Microsoft was just leeching off a past legacy and dismantling the foundation his predecessors had built. MS had no first party and the Bone was designed by TV shills like Yusuf Mehdi by the time he was done.

MS had first party developers, but Mattrick moved core developers Rare and Lionhead over to Kinect development which caused a lack of hardcore games in the last years. It seems like MS has learned from their past mistakes, as Hololens teams seem to be built from the ground up and studios like Lionhead and Rare are moving back to traditional games. He really did a number on Xbox, though.

 

[Elandyll]

Wow, is Don Mattrick that bad?

First Microsoft, then Zynga?

At the very least he is not bad at making money.

I'm sure he got a sweet compensation package when he left MS, a more than sweet salary while being CEO of Zynga, and yet another compensation package while leaving Zynga.

Wonder where he will land now, unless he burned one too many bridges in the Tech industry.
This being said, I really wouldn't worry about him with the money he (probably) made.

 

[Guevara]

He actually recently sold that house for $51 million http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-mansion-sells-for-more-than-51m-1.2989272

Well sure; clearly he's fallen on hard times.

 

[Patryn]

Well, the real news here (not that GAF will catch it) is that Pincus was the old CEO and his failures were worse than Mattrick's. He's the reason the company is where it is.

True.

But I think this dumping of Mattrick is totally justified.

 

[ChoklitCow]

I think he could solve the Amiibo crisis well. EA > Microsoft > Zynga > Nintendy

 

[Tiktaalik]

So he took control of the Titanic only to hit another iceberg pretty much?

I think it's more like Pincus hit the titanic then hired Mattrick to organize the bucket brigade. Ship was already half underwater. Would have been a stellar achievement to improve the situation.

 

[Macho Madness]

True.

But I think this dumping of Mattrick is totally justified.

Yeah, sure. His moves obviously weren't making enough waves.

 

[kruis]

Don Mattrick always seemed like a nice and genuine guy to me, but looks like people still attach some sort of stigma to him.

C'mon, the guy is directly responsible for how the Xbox 360 floundered in its last years and for the horrible Xbox One launch.

 

[angelic]

send him to Konami

 

[Majine]

makes me laugh...

Is the other guy an elf?

 

[Fox Mulder]

Don Mattrick always seemed like a nice and genuine guy to me, but looks like people still attach some sort of stigma to him.

He's a gamer and climbed the ladder after EA bought a company he founded. He was just awkward giving speeches and is primarily attached to the xb1 DRM shit when Ballmer and Spencer were there too.

But people eat up PR suits like Reggie.

 

[FStop7]

If I were him and had the money and a house like this, I'd never work and just stay at home all day.

Is there a better example of failing upward and the Peter Principle?

 

[Loakum]

Guy doesn't seem to do anything right but keeps getting paid enough to feed an entire continent.

He sounds like a member of Congress.

 

[Tuck]

Current CEO Don Mattrick will leave Zynga immediately and also will step down from its board. In a press release, he said he was moving back to his native Canada.​

Wow. If that ain't fired, what is? That thing about Canada kills me for some reason.

He's Canadian?

As a Canadian myself, I almost feel the need to... appoligize.

 

[Azih]

Zynga is probably in a death spiral now. If a company can't hold on to talent and are losing money then what resources can they exactly bring to bear to get back to stability? No one gives a shit about Farmville anymore so they don't even have particularly valuable IP.

 

[Valnen]

I don't quite understand why the internet hates this guy so much.

 

[Head.spawn]

I'm not going to lie; I wish I was half as shitty as him to make $60 million in 1.5 years. Not even counting the tons of cash he likely had shitting up the place at MS.

 

[curiouscharles]

strangely, this makes me happy.

i'm still angry at him for destroying the xbox brand.

but whatever, just retire dude, i'm sure you have more money than i'll ever have already...