Bloomberg reveals that Don Mattrick's interest in Zynga goes back three years, and that he attempted to buy the company as head of Microsoft's Xbox division.
In 2010, Zynga itself was solidly in place as the top app developer in Facebook, and were themselves in the business of acquisitions, swallowing 10 companies in the span of 10 months, including XPD Media, Dextrose, Bonfire Studios, Newtoy Inc, Floodgate, and MarketZero. It was also the year they were able to replicate the success of FarmVille with spinoff CityVille.
Early talks between Mattrick and Zynga founder Mark Pincus were based on Mattrick's interest in games like FarmVille and Cityville and putting them up on Xbox. Details on the proposed deal have been kept private since they fell through.
Of course, Mattrick now enters Zynga when it's in a far weaker position. Their failure to utilize their acquisition of OMGPOP!, leading to that company's closure, their damaged reputation since the EA lawsuit, and their general inability to keep their games relevant has led to a loss of 66 percent since the IPO last December 2011. Consequently, the company's lost a lot of talent and had to shut down many of its games.
Mattrick has left behind a Team Xbox still recovering from terrible communication of the Xbox One. He enters a Zynga with high expectations set on him, although Pincus still gets final say. Zynga games don't personally interest me, but they may have made the Xbox 360 a more compelling package for non gamers, and may have given it new life five years since its launch, to the benefit of both companies. On these points, we can only speculate.
