Zynga appoints mobile industry veteran in COO role

Don Mattrick, the recently appointed chief executive officer of Zynga has named mobile and entertainment industry executive Clive Downie (41) as chief operating officer.

Downie joins the company bringing over two decades of console and free-to-play mobile gaming experience.  He most recently served as chief executive officer of DeNA West, where he oversaw the company’s mobile social game platform Mobage West, managed western third-party business and first-party game studios in San Francisco, Vancouver and Chile.

Prior to that, Downie was vice president of studios, managing DeNA’s internal studios in North America and Europe, and the vice president of marketing and revenue at mobile game company ngmoco Inc. which was acquired by DeNA in October 2010.

“I have known Clive for more than two decades and am pleased to welcome him to the team. He is a seasoned leader with a deep understanding of consumer, marketing and mobile engagement, international experience operating both in EMEA and Japan and a rich background in game publishing — all of which are incredibly valuable as Zynga navigates its move to mobile,” said Don Mattrick, CEO of Zynga.

“I enjoyed my prior experiences working with Clive at Electronic Arts and have appreciated what he accomplished in the past five years at DeNA. As we build new leadership capabilities and focus the company on long term growth, Clive’s customer-centric point of view and proven track record will be invaluable to Zynga’s future.”

“I joined Zynga because I believe it has the ability to unlock disruptive new ideas that span gaming genres, markets and services. Zynga’s uniquely positioned inside a growing market to deliver consumers around the world an entertainment experience as beloved as their favorite TV show, movie or music,” added Downie.