Zynga COO John Schappert has resigned from his position at the company, Fortune reports.
"We can confirm that John Schappert has left Zynga and its board of directors effective immediately," Zynga CEO Mark Pincus revealed.
Schappert's responsibilities appeared to be undermined in a company reshuffle last month, in which head of mobile David Ko and head of game development Steve Chiang both stopped reporting to the EA veteran and instead began reporting directly to Pincus.
It is not believed that that the lawsuit filed by Electronic Arts over similarities between Zynga's Ville and The Sims Social has anything to do with the resignation, despite it citing Schappert own involvement with development of the latter game.
Pincus goes on to stress that there is no acrimony between the two parties: "John has made significant contributions to the games industry throughout his career and we appreciate all that he has done for Zynga. John leaves as a friend of the company and we wish him all the best."
Zynga's fortunes have been in decline since its IPO in December last year, it's stock value decreasing steadily over the past few months. The company recently became embroiled in further controversy when it was accused of insider trading when executives sold off stock to the value of around $500 million - Schappert made $3.9 million after selling 45 per cent of his stake in the company.
Source: Fortune