Xbox head Don Mattrick leaving Microsoft, report says

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May take over as CEO for Zynga

UPDATE: Zynga confirmed the news in press release. Don Mattrick will take over as CEO, and Mark Pincus will continue as Zynga's chairman of the board and chief product officer.

The head of Xbox is leaving Microsoft, according to a report from tech news site AllThingsD. Interactive Entertainment Business president Don Mattrick may leave his position to take over ailing social gaming giant Zynga, according to AllThingsD's anonymous sources.

Mattrick was at the center of the Xbox One's reveal in May. He's been with Microsoft since 2007, after occupying several positions at Electronic Arts, though his popularity with gamers has suffered after some blowback to Xbox One's former policies (we thought of 8 ways it could be worse).

The transfer likely isn't in response to those issues however, as the sources indicated Mattrick has been in talks with Zynga for some time. If he does join the San Francisco-based company, he would take over as CEO from founder Mark Pincus.

We've asked Microsoft for comment about these reports, and will update this article with any response.

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Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

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