Mark Pincus, founder and former chief executive officer of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) denied reports that “he is not very interested in games these days,” and clarified that in his previous statement saying he was “pretty board with all games” was misquoted during a Q&A session during the Garage Geeks event in Tel Aviv, Israel.
During the Q&A session, Pincus also said that he missed the days when he was crushingly addicted to games like Farmville.
In a message sent via Twitter, Pincus said Ben Silverman, the author of the article, misquoted him and used the power of omission in his article that was published on Yahoo! Games. Pincus wrote, “Ben Silverman shows the power of omission in misquoting me. I said, I was bored with the *current* crop of games.”
Pincus said he can’t imagine being in another industry
In an interview with Rebecca Rachmany, Pincus also stated that he was slightly misquoted by The Wall Street Journal and emphasized the he doesn’t have a favorite game right now. He added that he was bored with the current crop of games, and that the current model of games needs improvement. He pointed out that the TV industry is always revolutionizing and the gaming industry must do the same thing. Pincus said he “can’t imagine being in another industry.”
Pincus boredom of games led to speculations
Previous reports regarding Pincus’ boredom of games led to speculations that he is preparing to exit Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), especially since he already gave up his position as CEO of the online social gaming company to Don Mattrick, former president of interactive entertainment business of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Mattrick accepted to serve as CEO of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) despite its struggles to make profits, because he like to move into organizations with challenges. Prior to his appointment, Zynga lost many of its top executives and laid off 18 percent of its workforce as part of its cost-cutting measures. Pincus has strong confidence in Mattrick’s ability to turn around Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA).
Given his strong denial of the statement that he is no longer interested in gaming, and that instead he can’t imagine himself in another industry, Pincus is obviously more focused on the best ways to develop better games to revive Zynga’s popularity and profitability.
Mattrick previously stated that he will use his first 90 days to evaluate and reset the product lines of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) and his number one priority is mobile gaming.
