Zynga player decline continues, original founder no longer chief product officer

Social giant Zynga has revealed its gloomy financial results for the first quarter of 2014, and the company's founder has announced he's stepping down as chief product officer.

"Mark Pincus has decided to move on from his operational role as Chief Product Officer at Zynga to focus on serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors," said former Xbox boss turned Zynga CEO Don Mattrick in a letter to employees.

Alongside the reshuffle, Mattrick also revealed that Zynga had 28 million daily active users for the quarter, a boost of 1 million from the previous three months. But the company has lost almost half of its daily players since this time last year, when it had 53 million of them.

How about monthly active users, then? 86 million this quarter, down from 150 million this time last year.

Mattrick, who was brought on as Zynga CEO in an attempt to reverse the company's declining fortunes, pointed to the growing success of Zynga Poker and Words with Friends.

"In Q1 our teams delivered a solid start to the year against our strategic frame of growing and sustaining our franchises, creating new hits and driving efficiencies," said Mattrick.

"We have established a strong base for 2014 and believe we are pacing well for a year of growth."

Mattrick says that the company spirits have been buoyed by the recent release of FarmVille 2: Country Escape, which has seen over 4 million installs since its launch.

"We are pleased with the team's execution and encouraged by the early indicators we are seeing," he adds.

In the midsts of all this, Mattrick also announced the hiring of former Microsoft man Alex Garden as President of Zynga Studios.

Garden, who also founded Homeworld and Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment, has been working in the games industry for over two decades. "I met Alex 25 years ago when he began his career working as a game tester for Distinctive Software, which I founded in 1982," said Mattrick. "He is an exciting hire for us as we focus on growing and sustaining our franchises, creating breakthrough entertainment experiences and developing more creative leadership across Zynga."

Overall, Zynga made $168 million in revenue, a 36 per cent drop from the same period last year. Zynga also made a net loss of $61 million for the last three months, down from a net income of $4 million.