The chief game designer has left Zynga

Employees continue to leave Zynga. According to the news site Polygon, Brian Reynolds, the chief game designer in Mark Pincus's company, recently left. 

Brian Reynolds gained the most fame working with the legendary Sid Meier at Firaxis Games. He was the lead designer of Sid Meier’s Civilization II and Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, founded Big Huge Games, known for the Rise of Nations series, and since 2009 had been with Zynga, initially as the chief designer of the Boston studio and later as the chief game design officer. 

Brian Reynolds joined the rather extensive list of key personnel who left Zynga last year, including Words with Friends creators Paul and David Bettner, chief marketer Jeff Karp, vice presidents Bill Mooney and Brian Birtwistle, chief operating officer John Schappert, and many others.

The financial results for the company in the fourth quarter of 2012 will be announced on February 6. Then we will find out the true state of affairs at Zynga, which many had already written off by the summer.