don mattrick

Don Mattrick, the man who oversaw Microsoft's gaming business, will start his new job as CEO of Zynga next week, Mark Pincus, founder of the social gaming company, announced Monday afternoon.

The struggling company confirmed the appointment on its blog after All Things Digital reported the news earlier in the day. In addition to replacing Pincus as CEO, Mattrick -- who was in charge of gaming and entertainment at Microsoft including the popular Xbox gaming system -- will also become a Zynga board member. He starts at Zynga on July 8.

"As I reflect on the past six … Read more

Microsoft's head of Interactive Entertainment Business, the unit responsible for the Xbox, is leaving the company to work for struggling social gaming company Zynga, All Things Digital reported Monday.

Unnamed sources told AllThingsD that Don Mattrick will take a job at Zynga, possibly working as CEO under founder and current Chief Executive Mark Pincus. The announcement about Mattrick's new job could come as early as Monday, after the market closes.

Mattrick, who left Electronic Arts in 2007 to join Microsoft, became the head of the Interactive Entertainment Business unit in 2010. He also has overseen PC and mobile … Read more

Microsoft backtracked Wednesday on its much-derided policy that would have required Xbox One gamers to connect their consoles to the Internet once a day to prevent game piracy.

Microsoft faced a huge backlash when it announced the policy, just before the E3 video game conference earlier this month. Then, the company said it would allow gamers to play offline for up to 24 hours on a primary console, or 1 hour if they were logged onto a separate console accessing their library of titles. At that point, offline gaming would have been disabled until players re-establish a Web connection.

"… Read more

Microsoft has chosen to fill its executive vacancies from within, elevating three current business unit heads to president of their respective divisions.

In a statement this morning, the company said it is naming Kurt DelBene to head the Microsoft Office Division, Don Mattrick to head the Interactive Entertainment Business, and Andy Lees to head the Mobile Communications Business, effectively leaving things as they have been following the departure of Stephen Elop (who was named Nokia CEO last month) and the announced retirement of Robbie Bach.

"One key to Microsoft's success over the years has been our ability to … Read more

Microsoft shook up its entertainment and devices unit on Tuesday, with unit President Robbie Bach and Chief Technology Officer J. Allard both leaving the company.

Bach, who joined the company in 1988, is "retiring" and will leave the company in the fall, while Allard will be an adviser to CEO Steve Ballmer on "a specific set of projects," according to a Microsoft spokesman.

"At Microsoft, I've been so fortunate to spend more than two decades of my life working with incredible people and doing amazing things like launching Office, Xbox and Xbox Live, the '… Read more

Updated 2:10 p.m., with additional details

Microsoft said on Thursday it intends to acquire BigPark, a Vancouver, B.C.-based game studio.

BigPark, which is made up of former Electronic Arts Canada and Distinctive Software executives, has been working on an Xbox-exclusive game over the past year.

"We believe BigPark has tremendous potential to create new properties and innovative gaming experiences for our platforms, one of which we're looking forward to showcasing at the E3 Expo in June," Microsoft game studios boss Phil Spencer said in a statement. The company did not disclose financial terms … Read more