Idle Games announced that it has hired Michael McCormick away from Zynga. The Electronic Arts, Backbone Entertainment, Playfirst and HumaNature Studios veteran of 20 years also happened to be the CityVille lead designer.

“When we started Idle Games our core mission was to make wholly original and truly social games driven by creativity and fun, limited only by our imaginations,” said Jeffrey Hyman, Idle Games CEO and co-founder. “Michael embodies these values and has a proven track record of innovation and success. Really, he’s quite a god in the gaming industry. The perfect fit for Idle Worship.”

“I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the industry’s biggest players on the frontiers of emerging genres and platforms,” McCormick said. “To say that Idle Games is doing new things in the social space is an understatement, and I couldn’t be more excited to join the team.”