Gordon's departure ends a 25-year run at the company, which he co-founded in 1982. He will join the Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers firm as a partner, lending his expertise to entrepreneurs in consumer technologies.

"I've known the leading partners at Kleiner since John Doerr and Brook Byers made a founding investment in Electronic Arts in '82," Gordon told Newsweek. "Then Brook went on the board...[he] deeply believes in entertainment and entrepreneurial possibilities. So he shaped my thinking about what a board member can be."

Gordon added the firm's commitment to fresh ideas in the digital realm as impetus for signing on with Kleiner. "[They] find entrepreneurs and ideas in all things digital. There's three companies they've invested in with people I used to work with, none of whom are doing games. They're all doing other things in digital media that are wildly cool."

"My personal tastes have changed," Gordon added. "So if I can have dinner with John Doerr and Al Gore versus some people trying to make the next console game, I'm finding their grown-up, global thinking just more fun. As much as anything else, after 25 years at EA, I'm ready to be a forty-year old."