Zynga needs some good news, and fast: in its Tuesday quarterly earnings filling, the company reported that its daily active users rose from 27 million in the last quarter of 2013 to 28 million this quarter. But when compared to the first quarter of 2013, Zynga had 53 million daily active users—which means the company has lost about half of its most active players in a year.

Just months after Zynga spent $527 million on NaturalMotion , maker of Clumsy Ninja, the embattled social gaming firm also announced that it ended its first quarter by losing over $61 million. At this time last year, the company had profited $4.1 million during the first three months of 2013.

Still, the company's chief executive tried to play the loss down.

“In Q1 our teams delivered a solid start to the year against our strategic frame of growing and sustaining our franchises, creating new hits and driving efficiencies. We have established a strong base for 2014 and believe we are pacing well for a year of growth,” said Don Mattrick, Zynga’s CEO, in a statement.

However, Zynga also re-organized the deck chairs: former CEO Mark Pincus, who had stayed on at the company as the Chief Product Officer is now “moving on,” but he will remain chairman of the board of directors. Pincus, who founded the company, was ousted as CEO in July 2013 in favor of Mattrick, a Microsoft Xbox veteran.

Given his experience in Redmond, Mattrick also announced that Alex Garden would take over as Zynga’s new president, having previously served as General Manager for Xbox Live, among others. He also announced that Henry LaBounta would take over as the new chief visual officer, and Jennifer Nuckles would take over as the company’s new chief marketing officer.