Isn't it always nice to hear of companies finding talent right at home? RockYou, the social games publisher who just signed a deal with John Romero's Loot Drop, has promoted Lisa Marino, its current COO, to CEO today. According to TechCrunch, Marino spent the majority of her time as COO restructuring the company and preparing it for a comeback. Since then, the company has obviously leaped back into the social games scene after publishing only one game in 2010, Gourmet Ranch.

Marino had this to say of the company's potential success in an interview with TechCrunch:

I completely agree that a turnaround is difficult. I believe that we've been very effective and successful in the last six months. We made some difficult decisions early on about the DNA of the company and things we want to focus on and commit to. We decided that social gaming is where we were going to place our stake and be successful. We're still very bullish on [Facebook]. There are new demographics emerging, and we think that the product value of games are increasing and improving--those are places where we can succeed and differentiate ourselves from Zynga.

She went on to explain RockYou's interest in mobile as the next platform for social games, but those "demographics" aren't terribly specific. Does she mean that RockYou is focusing on hardcore social games? Who knows, but what we do know is that with developers like Romero and Brenda Brathwaite, RockYou is serious.

[Image Credit: Inside Facebook]

What do you think of RockYou's decision to promote from within? Will RockYou be able to successfully reenter social games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.