Playdom Hires Yahoo/Microsoft Vet As CTO

Social game developer Playdom announced its hiring of David Sobeski, formerly an executive at Yahoo and Microsoft, as its chief technology officer to lead the studio's tech initiatives. During his time at Yahoo, Sobeski served as senior vice president, managing the company's open strategy and data platform, and helping open its network to third parties and invite social integration features. Prior to that, he held several general manager positions at Microsoft, where he worked on Windows Vista and Microsoft Exchange Server. He also was development manager on MSN.com, and he contributed to the creation of Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine and Internet Explorer. Headquartered in Mountain View, California (with studios in San Francisco, Seattle, Eugene, Buenos Aires, and South Asia), Playdom produces a variety of games on Facebook and MySpace, such as Sorority Life, Social City, and Mobsters. On Facebook alone, its titles attract more than 37 million monthly active users, according to AppData. "We are proud to have one of the finest engineering groups in the Valley and after months of searching we've found someone worthy to lead it," says Playdom's CEO John Pleasants. "David brings tremendous value to the company, and we're thrilled to have him on board." "Through his focus on creating great products for users, his patents and acquisitions, David has been one of the leaders of the technology industry for the past 20 years and we're excited to witness his expertise first-hand."