Zynga’s Chief Game Designer Jumps Ship

Brian Reynolds, of Civilization 2 fame, leaves the flagging company.

With Zynga’s stock prices plunging faster than winter temperatures, lead game designer Brian Reynolds is joining pretty much everyone else and leaving the social gaming company. “We appreciate Brian’s contribution and we’re proud of the deep bench of creative leaders who are leading the next wave of game innovation at Zynga”, said Zynga President of Games Steve Chiang. “We wish Brian the best in his next chapter.”

Brian said his farewells via Twitter saying “Yes I’m officially leaving Zynga after 3 3/4 great years”. Afterwards, he changed his handle from “ZyngaGameChief” to “TheGameChief”.

Reynolds is an industry veteran whose name shows up in classics like Civilization 2, Rise of Nations, and Alpha Centauri. In 2009, he left Big Huge Games for the cash-rich pastures of Zynga, where he designed FrontierVille, an odd departure from his usual strategy fare.

Had this been six months ago, there might have been some clever remarks or observations to add, but stories like these are expected nowadays. Reynolds is a talented developer, and I’m sure that many gamers would love to see him work on something outside of social gaming. Perhaps there’s room for an Alpha Centauri 2, eh?

Source: Twitter via Polygon