Zynga CCO Mike Verdu announces his departure
Zynga Chief Creative Officer Mike Verdu announced this afternoon that he’s leaving the company.
Verdu’s served as Zynga’s CCO for the past three years, having been around for some of the developer’s biggest launches on Facebook including CityVille, CastleVille and The Ville. In the joint announcement from the company, it was revealed that Verdu is leaving to create a new (unnamed) start-up game company, which Zynga will be an investor with.
In a statement on the Zynga blog, Verdu explained how much he enjoyed his time at the company but, “Now, however, it’s time for me to try something new. Being at Zynga in the early days reminded me of how much I love being an entrepreneur. After a lot of soul-searching, I have decided to go back to my roots and start a new company.”
Zynga CEO and Founder Mark Pincus released a statement, saying Verdu was immensely influential on the way Zynga was shaped, creatively. Pincus also said he was thrilled to be an investor in Verdu’s new start-up.
Zynga has yet to publicly announce who will assume Verdu’s duties.
August 28th, 2012 at 10:29 pm
[...] Angeles Times, The Verge, TechCrunch and Inside Social Games Comments [...]
August 30th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
[...] announcement follows yesterday’s news that chief creative officer Mike Verdu is leaving Zynga as well to form his own company in which Zynga CEO and Founder Mark Pincus will be an [...]
September 15th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
[...] that anyone would bemoan this loss. Certainly not uncommon for someone in his profession to want new challenges, and he also likely doesn’t fit with Zynga’s new focus. Hard to count this among the [...]
September 18th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
[...] on the company’s board of directors. In late August we learned that chief creative officer Mike Verdu had left Zynga to form his own company, likely with the blessings of Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus, who [...]
September 21st, 2012 at 2:59 pm
[...] Date of departure: Aug. 28, 2012 [...]