Mattrick Tried to Buy Zynga While at Microsoft

Don Mattrick may have left Microsoft to take up the role of CEO at Zynga as of today, but it appears his interest in the company isn't anything new.

Bloomberg reports that Mattrick actually tried to buy the social game developer while he was still working for Microsoft back in 2010. Supposedly, Mattrick was keen to strengthen Xbox's lineup with social games from Zynga that were, at the time, adding millions of users to Facebook every week.

Though negotiations eventually fell apart, the process caused Mattrick to become friends with the former Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, who he's replacing this week. It seems the two kept in contact, even going road-biking together, before starting to discuss Mattrick's move in March of this year.

So it looks like Mattrick's departure from Microsoft had been in the offing for a while, and wasn't a reaction to the backlash over the Xbox One's policies. The article goes on to reshare the pay and perks he'll be receiving during his first year at Zynga, which could see him earn around $19 million in his first year alone.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com