IndustryGamers was the first to let you know about Lou Castle (of Westwood Studios fame) heading up InstantAction, and now with the unfortunate demise of the browser-based games company, we can reveal to you where Castle has landed: social juggernaut Zynga.
Zynga confirmed with IndustryGamers that Castle will serve as the new VP of Studios. Castle has always been a big believer in the digital and social side of the games business, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to see him join the dominant force in social gaming.
The trend of longtime developers "switching sides" to the social games market seems to be gaining steam. Others include Richard Garriott (Portalarium), Firaxis co-founder Brian Reynolds (chief game designer at Zynga), John Romero (Loot Drop) and Raph Koster (Playdom), to name a few.
We recently chatted with Lou Castle about the demise of InstantAction (he couldn't talk about Zynga yet). We also met up with Brian Reynolds to discuss the social space. Stay tuned for both of those.
