Bangalore: Mark Pincus, co-founder of the social gaming giant Zynga is finally stepping down from his CEO post, handing over the responsibility of ailing company to videogame industry veteran Don Mattrick, who is presently heading the entertainment division of Microsoft.

"I've always said (to the Zynga board) that if I could find someone who could do a better job as our CEO I'd do all I could to recruit and bring that person in. I'm confident that Don is that leader," said Pincus in a letter to employees. Pincus will now be serving as the chairman.

Zynga, which shot to instant fame with Facebook game titles like Farmville, was struggling lately with its revenue generation. The apparent defocus from Facebook into game titles for Smartphones and Tablets didn’t do well for the company. Moreover, the competition in Facebook arena from rivals like King.com has also hurt the company to an extent. Following this, Zynga had announced lying off a fifth of its workforce and closing some facilities to focus more on game titles for mobile devices.

Meanwhile, Don Mattrick, the new CEO of Zynga was recently at the centre of a backlash at Microsoft, following his decision on strict policies over Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming consoles, preventing the users from selling used game titles and allowing them to play only if the device is connected online. However, Microsoft had to reverse the policies as a result of the huge protest from the gamers.

Following the news on Microsoft Veteran taking over the control, Zynga’s shares jumped more than 10 percent to $3.17.