But when Schappert joined Zynga in April 2011, Chiang’s responsibilities naturally decreased as less work was left to go around. Together, Chiang and Schappert co-founded Tiburon Entertainment, which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1998, and continues to be responsible for hit games such as Madden NFL.Ĭhiang arrived at Zynga first, in March 2010, as EVP of Games.

Schappert hailed from Electronic Arts, where he knew Chiang better than anyone else. One impressive hire was John Schappert, who came on board as chief operating officer to lead the company’s game strategy. But what has made this executive’s path at Zynga unusual was his rise, then fall - and then rise again - within the corporate ranks.Īhead of the IPO, Zynga was relentless in its efforts to build out a strong bench of C-level executives. Those two new categories, as well as its original Ville genre, which it calls “Invest and Express,” will be at the top of the company’s priority list, in addition to developing across social and mobile. One problem is that it has persisted in churning out its once powerful Ville-style games - FarmVille, CityVille, et al - while its competitors moved on to other genres, such as casino games and action-packed games aimed at males. Zynga operates a hits-driven business, and must continue to make compelling games to draw in large audiences, something it has of late struggled to do. So, can they do it? To find out, AllThingsD interviewed all three, as well as more than a dozen current and former co-workers of the managers, to get a handle on who they are and what roles they are playing in the company’s turnaround process.Ĭhiang, 41, who is now leading all game development, has one of the toughest jobs at the company. Now, in the wake of the crash, Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus is betting his dwindling chips on a trio of lieutenants to make things right: Steve Chiang, who is now president of games David Ko, Zynga’s former chief mobile officer, who has been promoted to COO and Barry Cottle, who was named chief revenue officer.Įstablishing the three executives’ credibility and skill sets will be instrumental in regaining Wall Street’s confidence in the San Francisco gaming company, and perhaps reestablishing it as a growing and thriving concern. Today - after seemingly endless executive departures (among the missing in action are the COO, CMO, CFO and the chief creative officer), a falloff in the popularity of its many games on the important Facebook platform, and a perpetually moribund stock price from a $9 billion valuation at its IPO in December of 2011 to $2 billion today - such a moment of glory seems but a very distant memory. Was it only just over a year ago that Zynga was the hottest game company on the planet?

Will zynga have cityville game again