Zynga's new CEO is Frank Gibeau, EA's former VP of mobile

Former executive vice president of EA Mobile Frank Gibeau is stepping in as the new CEO of Zynga, effective 7th March.

Gibeau stepped down from his role at EA after 23 years last May. During his tenor at EA, he controversially stated that he was "proud" of ensuring every EA game featured online interactivity.

Gibeau will replace Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus, who previously gave up the role of CEO to former president of Microsoft's gaming division Don Mattrick in July 2013. Pincus ended up resuming the role in April 2015 when Mattrick left, and he'll stay on board with Zynga operating as executive chairman.

"Frank has a history of developing strong teams and shipping market leading games," Pincus wrote in a letter to employees obtained by GamesIndustry. "He is a seasoned leader with the experience to quickly navigate the kinds of challenges we face on a weekly basis. He has a proven 25-year track record having helped architect the successful turnaround of Electronic Arts as the President of EA Labels and more recently navigating the company's platform transition efforts as EVP of EA Mobile. In our industry he's known for driving operational excellence and leading winning teams on both the publishing and studio side of the gaming business."

"We will continue to invest in our talent and build on our empowered, entrepreneurial culture," Gibeau said. "As important, we must commit to a new level of operational excellence with focused execution, engineered hits and strong cost discipline. I'm excited to get started and expect a seamless transition given the progress we've made together over the past seven months. I'm encouraged by our early momentum and look forward to partnering with our teams to build on the progress we're seeing across the company."