Zynga has 'hit a wall' - EA COO

Zynga's recent troubles, including a precipitous drop in its stock price after its most recent earnings call and executive power shifts, are the result of too many eggs in one basket, Peter Moore said. The Electronic Arts chief operating officer spoke to Bloomberg this week about the problems Zynga has faced and why EA has been less shaken up by social gaming turbulence.

"To use, if you will, an Olympic analogy, we're competing in the decathlon. We miss in one event, we've got nine others we can make up on," Moore said. "Zynga's running a marathon, they just hit the wall and dropped to their knees." He said Facebook's new app center, on which Zynga pinned some of the blame for its problems, has actually been beneficial for EA's social gaming presence.

He said while EA's social revenue is not shrinking, the real growth potential is in mobile games, which his company has invested in for years. Moore said Zynga's late arrival to the mobile party may have contributed to Zynga removing product oversight duties from its COO (and former EA employee) John Schappert.

The statements were made prior to the announcement of an EA lawsuit against Zynga, which alleges the latter committed copyright infringement on The Sims Social with its The Ville game.