As you might have heard by now, Don Mattrick, former CEO for Microsoft and the big cheese behind Xbox, has relocated to Zynga, the company behind FarmVille.  I have to say, I thought it was risky of Microsoft to put out a console that wasn’t going to play any of the Xbox 360 games already on the market. And thinking they could lure people along with prospects of a new Halo game was interesting as well.

The consumer backlash was obviously swift and this latest development is proof. Of course, they backpedaled after having to watch the crowd go wild at E3 when Sony announced they weren’t going to do anything different than what they’ve been doing already. But they still have a ways to go.  I mean, who can really afford to pay 500 bucks for a game console in this economy?

Strangely enough, Mattrick’s salary at Zynga will be 95% comprised of stock. How much the 5% equals is not clear but if he wants to get PAID he’s going to need to supercharge a company that saw a 70% drop in its IPO last year. Maybe Mattrick learned his lesson like the CEO of Netflix did with his move to raise the price of subscription that prompted 1 million customers to collectively teabag him as they headed on over to Hulu and Redbox. When will these CEOs learn?

Consumerism is waning in this screwed up economy. The last two Black Fridays have been borderline pathetic. People are getting the shaft not only from employers who are now cutting back peoples’ hours so that they won’t be forced to provide health benefits under Obamacare but also from companies like Microsoft who want to nickel and dime people to death. Maybe Zynga can come up with a new game called GovernmentVille where people create an entire economic system from the ground up. Then the residents of GovernmentVille can afford to buy $500. game consoles to play their $85. games on.

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