Hey, look on the bright side, Zynga: At least the guy didn't leave for a competitor. IndustryGamers reports that former Zynga studio VP Lou Castle (pictured) left for Shuffle Master, a Las Vegas-based creator of various casino game products like shufflers. According to IndustryGamers, Castle's move was purely for personal reasons, just months after joining the social game giant.
"The Zynga gig was clearly a 5 day a week, 24/7 requirement," Castle told IndustryGamers. "[I have] twins in senior year of high school and [Shuffle Master's] a local job. Life's too short, so I couldn't resist." Quite the noble move, eh? Well, Castle had already served on Shuffle Master's board of directors for six years before becoming the company's CSO, or chief strategy officer. Castle opted to resign from his position on the board as Chairman of the Audit Committee before taking on the job.
Castle is best known for his contributions in creating the famed strategy game series, Command & Conquer, as co-founder of Westwood Studios. The former Zynga executive most recently joins Treasure Isle GM Jeremy Verba in leaving the company. Verba also entered a completely different industry, becoming the CEO of famous (or infamous?) online dating website eHarmony.
These recent departures from Zynga aren't to other game companies, but away from the games industry entirely. Whether Zynga proves to be the video game swan song for industry veterans has yet to be seen. But the San Francisco-based social games maker presses on, with almost too many games announced recently.
Why do you think folks are leaving Zynga, but for companies in completely different industries? Is this the start of a trend of the social game maker?
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