Mike Verdu has given up his gig as chief creative officer at Zynga to start up a new company. Verdu seems to have left on amicable terms, with AllThingsD revealing that Zynga will be an investor in his new venture and also act as publisher. The new studio's games will be available on the Zynga Platform.Verdu's departure follows another recent high-profile exit, namely chief operating officer John Schappert. "I personally don't want to add to the noise level," Verdu told AllThingsD. "I think this will be a good thing for me and for Zynga." He added that while he's "concerned about how this might be viewed with what else is going on," it's more to get back to being an entrepreneur than "anything else going on at the company."
In his goodbye address, Verdu thanked his colleagues and friends at Zynga for his three years there. "After a lot of soul-searching, I have decided to go back to my roots and start a new company," Verdu said. Before his time at Zynga, he spent several years at EA and Atari.
