Three more Zynga executives leave the company

SVP of games John Osvald, VP of games Nathan Etter, and VP of Zynga's casino division Jesse Janosov

Zynga has had a rought year and a half, losing around a dozen executives in that span of time. The rush of fleeing employees eventually culminated with the resignation of the company's long-time CEO Mark Pincus at the end of June, and I thought that might actually stem the tide a bit. If nothing else I at least thought it might give those who were thinking of leaving some time to see if new CEO Don Mattrick had what it took to right the ship.

Apparently not, though, as three more high level Zynga employees have decided to leave the company in the past month, it was reported by Bloomberg on Monday. 

The three executives who have jumped ship are John Osvald, a senior vice president of games, Jesse Janosov, a vice president who ran Zynga’s casino division, and Nathan Etter, a vice president of games.

VatorNews reached out to Zynga for confirmation, but a spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the report.

Osvald and Etter began working at Zynga in 2009, and they helped to lead the company's popular FarmVille franchise. Their departure comes at a time when the company is attempting to streamline its games, producing less titles and focusing on those that will be able to compete on mobile.

For Janosov, who led the company's casino games, including Zynga Poker and Zynga Elite Slots, the reason for his departure seems clear.

Zynga revealed in its earnings report last week that it would not be seeking a license for real-money gaming in the United States. 

"While the Company continues to evaluate its real money gaming products in the United Kingdom test, Zynga is making the focused choice not to pursue a license for real money gaming in the United States," the company wrote in its report.

The move came as a shock, as Zynga has been lobbying to get the state of Nevada to reward them with a gaming license. Real-money gambling was widely seen as Zynga's way to balance the loses it was seeing after its relationship with Facebook eroded and then ended.

Zynga Poker was such an important piece of the company's future at one point that, after Zynga was forced to announce that it was lowering its outlook for the remainder of 2012, due in part to the weakness of its Web games, then-CEO Pincus sent to a note to employees in which he specifically cited Zynga Poker as one area where the company would be investing heavily.

The announcement that Zynga was abandoning the pursuit even spooked investors, who sent the company's stock tumbling down 14% after the announcement, despite the company beating Wall Street expectations.

Osvald, Jetter and Janosov are joining a big list of former Zynga employees and executives who decided it was time to move on.

First was Zynga’s Chief Operating Officer John Schappert who resigned in August. No explanation was given, with the company saying in an SEC filing that the resignation was “not tendered in connection with any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.”

Then it was Chief Creative Officer Mike Verdu; Chief Operating Officer John Schappert; Alan Patmore, general manager of CityVille; Erik Bethke, general manager of Mafia Wars 2; Ya-Bing Chu, a VP in Zynga’s mobile division; and Jeremy Strauser, a general manager.

Zynga's chief security officer Nils Puhlmann also left his job in September, and in November it was Jonathan Flesher, VP of business development, who quit.

Two former OMGPOP executives have also left: CEO Dan Porter, who announced he was leaving in April, and Wilson Kriegel, the chief revenue officer of Omgpop, who left in September.

Andy Tian, the head of Zynga China, was the most recent executive to bow out, doing so in June. 

(Image source: https://kenlevine.blogspot.com)