Sony Online Entertainment senior producer becomes Zynga Austin GM

by Ben Gilbert on May 15th 2011 7:05PM

At Sony Online Entertainment in Austin, Texas, John Blakely headed up projects ranging from Star Wars Galaxies to DC Universe Online. Now, Blakely is leading Zynga's Austin-based offices, acting as general manager for the studio in a move spotted this past week. Blakely's LinkedIn profile indicates he's been with Zynga Austin since some point in April of this year.

SOE confirmed Blakely's departure in a statement, thanking him for "the passion and leadership he brought to work every day," and noting that the company "fully supports him in his future endeavors." Zynga could not be reached for comment as of publishing, though it stands to reason that the social media giant isn't exactly unhappy with the acquisition. Executive director of development, Lorin Jameson, will fill Blakely's spot at SOE.

Via: Develop, Kotaku
Source: LinkedIn

Tags: DC-Universe-Online, john-blakely, lorin-jameson, mac, pc, playstation, ps3, soe, sony-online-entertainment, star-wars-galaxies, zynga, zynga-austin

Reader Comments (43)

Have fun in hell, Blakely.

@Mrguy you know that guy
That's a little harsh butter cup.

@GravyWeasel

...but, its oh so very true muffin-butt.

Galaxies to... Farmville? Dude, "lowering your standards" does this no justice.

@Schlecht
This

@Schlecht
Did you play Galaxies? The man has a very different set of standards than the rest of us

@KillerSlinky
You're right about the difference in standards. That bastard and the Sony team he headed are the ones that made DCU locked to one console. Therefore making it unsellable and unusable on a secondary one. Also, since you can't sell it, they basically force you to continue the paid subscription or you might as well use it as a coaster. Yeah, we definitely have different standards.

@KillerSlinky As a matter of fact, no I have not. Nor have I played DCU, but I heard that was pretty good. All I know is as long as they aren't busy making crappy TV show and/or movie based games (and no, games like Galaxies don't count), going to Farmville is pretty much rock bottom.

@Schlecht

I will never forgive what was done with Galaxies.

Never.

Not much news on the joystiq front today.

@Frostblade10 Weekends are always slow.

@Frostblade10 Never is on Sunday. Also doesn't help E3 is soon.

@Frostblade10

All of the joystiq writers are too busy on PSN now that its back up.

Anyone else get the feeling that Zynga is eventually going to burst? They're adding high level employees, and the salaries that go along with them, at an alarming pace. You know these people aren't coming over from Sony, EA, and Nintendo just for a matching offer.

@pokota Yeah, I'm convinced it'll happen (to social gaming in general), and IMO it can't happen soon enough. People gotta stop wasting time and money on this garbage and get back to living real life.

(Then again, I guess I could say the same for MMO addicts...)

Another one bites the dust.

Money talks and a higher position. Can't be mad at that.

Looks a little like Daniel Roebuck.

what?

Blakely: "Hey guys guess what? I made a ton of great MMOs at Sony, so what do you have for me?"

Zynga: "Farmvill and a bunch of other Facebook point-and click games."

Blakely: ... "Uh... Great! Let's get started!"

Yay, now Farmvile can get hacked too, because everyone knows that Sony Online employees know nothing about security.

Just joking guys, glad PSN is back up.

@Spino Prime

Actualy, I'm having some strange problems with PSN. Earlier today, I logged in like everyone else, changed my password, so far so good. But now I 'm trying to log back in but all I'm getting is the "PlayStation Network is undergoing maintenance" message, and I can't get online. Anyone else having this issue?

How convenient ...

I can't WAIT for the day when people finally tire of Zynga's games... That's probably the only time I'll ever cheer for layoffs.

Wow, what an unfortunate nose shadow. Did anyone else think he looked like Hitler at a glance, or am I crazy??

@Temidien
Totally agree. And it also suits his new role.

@Banksyliveraa

Yeaaaaaa, because developing social media games is kinda like genocidal world-conquering fascism...

@Temidien I kinda think you're crazy, but at the same time "Wow, what an unfortunate nose shadow." earns Line of the Night title in my book, so you win either way.

Can someone tell me how to change my password on my PS3? It tells me I need to change my password when I try to log in but doesn't explain how to do it, is it under Security Settings?

@343 Guilty Fart

I think this is the wrong place to ask, but I'll help anyways. Once you've tried logging in, they'll say that you need to change your password, and they'll send you an email to the email you signed up for PSN with. If you haven't seen the email, wait around 10 minutes. Just visit the link within the email, and follow the instructions to change your password.

It has been a slow day for games today

Lot of high-ups going over to casual game developers. I wonder how long til that bubble busts.

@Lerkero
All you guys keep blaming the social media market can blame nintendo for starting all this casual crap. But honestly, the core gaming market isn't too different anymore. Every shooter is looking the same while all claiming to be so new and unique when they're far from it. Madden has been the same for 15 years. Only the what's popular is what's being approved. Original ideas are out the window.

PSN is down . . . . again.

@FinalFantasyXIIIsucks

You too, huh? This is a catastrophe.

I'm not. Been on and off all day.

@ApexOneder I just turned my PS3 back on and it looks like the PSN is back up. I have the feeling that it's going to be spotty for a couple of days while they work out the kinks. Hopefully this also means that we'll see the store up and running by Tuesday. If that doesn't happen, then it'll definitely be up by the 31st.

my eyes are kinda blurry cause I just woke up, and it totally looks like he's got a Hitler stache in that pic.

So he's going from losing people's personal information to abusing people's personal information? Well, I guess when you're good at something, you'd might as well do it.

So he's leaving a studio that mis-handles licensed properties and joining one that just steals them?

Let's hope he applies some of that on-line expertise to shutting down FarmVille for several weeks... or years, preferably.

Zynga is a crappy company. Evil, evil.

Why don't these people learn to make real games? Crap MMO's to Farmville.

@KungFuChaosNinja
The tragedy of Zynga is that they have purchased the souls of a number of legitimate game designers, people who could have made normal, fun games rather than pay-to-win cash-cow abominations.

DC Universe Online

Sony Online Entertainment senior producer becomes Zynga Austin GM

Reader Comments (43)

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:11PM Mrguy you know that guy said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:25PM GravyWeasel said

Posted: May 15th 2011 11:21PM ShadowXIII said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:15PM Schlecht said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:49PM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: May 15th 2011 9:48PM KillerSlinky said

Posted: May 15th 2011 10:06PM Tisoyboy2 said

Posted: May 15th 2011 10:23PM Schlecht said

Posted: May 16th 2011 12:19AM ShadowXIII said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:19PM Frostblade10 said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:29PM WeRequireMOARMinerals said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:31PM thevoid said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:25PM maemikemae said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:28PM pokota said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:08PM CnEY said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:29PM WeRequireMOARMinerals said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:30PM Drdre74 said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:32PM Shadowbender said

Posted: May 15th 2011 9:18PM Schlecht said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:52PM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:57PM Spino Prime said

Posted: May 15th 2011 9:54PM Shadowbender said

Posted: May 15th 2011 7:59PM A Sandwich said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:09PM Gaddes said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:13PM Temidien said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:15PM Banksyliveraa said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:27PM Temidien said

Posted: May 16th 2011 10:25PM CnEY said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:29PM 343 Guilty Fart said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:39PM cypherigon said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:37PM WMWLL said

Posted: May 15th 2011 8:50PM Lerkero said

Posted: May 16th 2011 9:45AM Kbb81tn said

Posted: May 15th 2011 9:32PM FinalFantasyXIIIsucks said

Posted: May 15th 2011 9:57PM Shadowbender said

Posted: May 15th 2011 10:03PM ApexOneder said

Posted: May 15th 2011 10:52PM FinalFantasyXIIIsucks said

Posted: May 15th 2011 10:20PM oxfordfishsalon said

Posted: May 15th 2011 10:53PM Counterattack said

Posted: May 16th 2011 2:03AM ticklefist said

Posted: May 16th 2011 3:27AM antelope said

Posted: May 16th 2011 11:10AM KungFuChaosNinja said

Posted: May 16th 2011 8:00PM antelope said

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