Donald Allan Mattrick OBC was born on February 13, 1964. He is a Canadian businessman who helped start Distinctive Software (DSI) in 1982 when he was 17 years old. He started this company in Vancouver while finishing high school and studying business and economics at Simon Fraser University. DSI became the largest game company in North America that worked on its own. In 1991, Electronic Arts bought DSI. Mattrick worked at Electronic Arts Canada for 15 years as the president of Worldwide Studios. In 2007, he joined Microsoft as the president of the Interactive Entertainment Business and helped create the Kinect for Xbox 360. From 2013 to 2015, he was the CEO of Zynga, a publicly traded social gaming company.
Career
In 1982, Mattrick and Jeff Sember started a company called Distinctive Software (DSI), creating the video game Evolution for the Apple II computer. In 1986, Sember sold his share of the company to Mattrick. That same year, Paul Lee joined the company’s board of directors. In 1989, Paul Lee invested money in DSI, becoming the only other owner. He also took full-time roles as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO) and chief operating officer (COO). In 1991, Mattrick was the chairman and largest owner of DSI, while Canadian businessman Tarrnie Williams was the CEO. The year before, DSI received two offers to be bought by other companies. Instead of accepting, Mattrick reached out to Trip Hawkins, the founder of Electronic Arts (EA), to discuss ways the two companies could work together. This led to EA buying DSI through a business deal in July 1991. Before the acquisition, DSI was the largest independent game developer in North America and had 75 full-time workers. They worked on projects with companies like Konami, Broderbund, IBM, Disney, Mindscape, and Accolade. DSI was most famous for making racing and sports games for the Amiga, Apple II, Commodore 64, and PC DOS platforms.
Mattrick held many leadership roles at Electronic Arts. Before leaving the company in 2005, he was president of Worldwide Studios, overseeing EA’s global studios and research and development in locations such as Redwood Shores, California (Silicon Valley), EALA in Los Angeles, EA Tiburon in Florida, EA Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Montreal, and EA UK in Chertsey, England.
After retiring from Electronic Arts in February 2007, Mattrick was asked by Robert J. Bach to serve as an external advisor to the Entertainment and Devices Division. In July 2007, Mattrick officially joined Microsoft as a senior vice president, managing the Xbox 360 and PC gaming businesses. His work was linked to an increase in video game installations and Xbox LIVE subscriptions.
Mattrick is widely credited for developing Kinect for Xbox 360. He introduced Kinect under the name "Project Natal" at E3 2009, presenting it on stage with filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
In October 2010, Mattrick was promoted to president of the Interactive Entertainment Business, overseeing Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, Kinect, Music, Video, PC, and mobile interactive entertainment.
In August 2011, Fortune magazine named Mattrick one of the "Smartest People in Tech 2011," recognizing his role in creating and launching Kinect. In May 2012, CNN Money listed Mattrick as one of the top 10 brilliant technology visionaries.
On May 21, 2013, Mattrick introduced the new Xbox One, the successor to the Xbox 360, which was described as an all-in-one entertainment system. He later addressed criticism about the system’s "always on" internet connection by saying, "We have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity; it’s called Xbox 360."
Mattrick left Microsoft on July 1, 2013, to become CEO of Zynga, a social game company. He was replaced by Phil Spencer as Head of Xbox in 2014.
In Power On: The Story of Xbox, a web series documentary on Xbox released in December 2021, Mattrick discussed the Xbox One’s controversial launch strategy. He admitted the Xbox One reveal event focused too much on TV features and said his team "could have done a better job of reassuring people that we were committed to excellence in gaming."
On July 1, 2013, it was confirmed that Mattrick was leaving Microsoft to join Zynga as CEO. Wall Street investors viewed his appointment positively, and Zynga’s stock price rose the day the news was announced. During his first quarterly financial earnings call with Zynga on July 25, 2013, Mattrick predicted the company would face challenges over the next 6 months to a year. He emphasized the need to "get back to basics" and "take a longer term view on our products and business."
By 2015, Zynga struggled to achieve success in the mobile market, as shown by its declining and stagnant stock price. On April 8, 2015, Mattrick resigned as Zynga’s CEO and was replaced by founder Mark Pincus. Pincus said, "He got us in the game in mobile in a big way, and I’m appreciative of that."
Currently, Mattrick is a co-founder and co-president of MdGB Capital, a private company that manages a group of assets and operating companies across North America. The company also advises high-tech ventures such as Photonic, Nordeus, Dapper Labs, and Hivestack.
Honours and awards
Mattrick was made a member of the Order of British Columbia in 2024. He received the 2017 Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria. He was named an Honorary Fellow of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia in 2005 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Simon Fraser University in 1999. Mattrick was the Co-Chair of British Columbia's Premier's Technology Council from 2016 to 2018. He has served on the board of directors of the Vancouver Prostate Centre since 2019.