Zynga hires MS veteran

Don Mattrick will succeed Mark Pincus, who will remain chairman of the board and chief product officer

Zynga is hiring Don Mattrick, the former head of Microsoft Corp's entertainment division, as its new chief executive officer, seeking to reignite growth at the game developer.

Mattrick will succeed Mark Pincus, who will remain chairman of the board and chief product officer, Zynga said. Mattrick, who will also join the board, starts July 8, the company said.

He faces the challenge of turning around Zynga, which is suffering amid rising competition from upstarts such as King.com as well as a shift toward gaming on handheld devices. His experience in the industry, which includes stints at Microsoft and Electronic Arts Inc, may help Zynga find new lines of revenue outside of Facebook Inc, where it is losing users, according to Michael Hickey, an analyst. at National Alliance Capital Markets.