The former Microsoft bigwig says Zynga needs to “break some bad habits” and “get back to basics.”
Its only been a few weeks since Microsoft’s former President of Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick jumped from the frying pan into the fire and took up the mantle of CEO at the struggling Zynga, but he already has some ideas on how to turn the company around. During an investor call today, Mattrick said Zynga needs to “break some bad habits” and “get back to basics.”
Mattrick outlined a 90-day plan for the company, where he plans to get “under the hood to evaluate” Zynga’s business, conduct “top-to-bottom business reviews and [work] with our leaders to calibrate against the market opportunity and to go after it with a real sense of urgency” and spend time “heads down” with developers to improve product quality.
He says that the developer behind Farmville needs to take a more “long term” view on its products, especially as it is now focusing on moving from social media to mobile platforms and tablets. “It’s clear that the market opportunity around us is growing at an incredible clip,” said Mattrick, adding “It’s also clear that today we are missing out on the platform growth that Apple, Google and Facebook are seeing.”
The company is probably looking at six months to a year of volatility as it resets its strategy, warns Mattrick, but he plans to “listen and learn” to see what changes are required at Zynga.
“While we’ve got a lot of work to do, I see a lot of opportunity in having the collection of people we’ve assembled.”
Source: Polygon
