Zynga's director of product development departs for Groupon

Newsbrief: Zynga's director of product development, Curtis Lee, has left the social networking giant to join online deals site Groupon, where he will oversee its numerous consumer-facing initiatives, reports TechCrunch. Lee's departure is the latest in a string of staff changes for Zynga over the last few months. For instance, the company lost CityVille lead designer Michael McCormick earlier this month, and global director of brand advertising Manny Anekal left for game rewards network Kiip in February. During Lee's stay at Zynga, he helped the company establish its current model for monetizing virtual goods, and previously served as head of Zynga Austin, the studio responsible for the popular Mafia Wars. Gamasutra contacted Zynga for more information, but the company declined to comment.