Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Zynga Hires Chief Designer

San Francisco-based social games developer Zynga reported today that industry veteran Brian Reynolds has joined the firm as chief designer. In this newly created role, Zynga noted, Reynolds will head its East Coast operations while directing the product development team as it creates new social strategy games. Zynga described Reynolds as an industry "legend" who previously helped establish two prominent videogame studios: Firaxis Games and Big Huge Games. Zynga added that Reynolds' past projects—which include Civilization II, Alpha Centauri and Rise of Nations—have sold more than 6 million copies worldwide. Zynga is venture backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byersm, Institutional Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, Avalon Ventures, and others.