Lou Castle joins Zynga

Zynga has continued its aggressive strategy veteran hiring by securing the services of Lou Castle.

IndustryGamers reports Castle has been named new vice president of studios.

Castle founded the now-defunct Westwood, which was closed by EA in 2003.

His team was responsible for the shape of the modern strategy genre, most prominently the Command & Conquer series, but also the seminal Dune II.

New colleagues Mark Skaggs and Mike Verdu are fellow Command & Conquer veterans.

Other strategy luminaries onboard Zynga's train to the top include former Firaxis staffer Brian Reynolds, whose credits include Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Civilization II and Frontierville, and Bruce Shelley, part of the original Civilization team as well as a contributor to the Age of Empires series.

Thanks, GamePolitics.