Words With Friends co-creator Paul Bettner starts a studio to focus on Ouya console games (exclusive interview)

Words With Friends co-creator Paul Bettner has started a new game studio after leaving Zynga last year. He said in an exclusive interview with GamesBeat that he plans to create games that run on Ouya’s Android-based $99 game console coming in June.

Back in October, Bettner and his brother, David, made headlines when they resigned from Zynga. The social gaming giant had paid $53.3 million for their company, Newtoy in McKinney, Texas, in 2010. And Words With Friends is still played billions of minutes each month on mobile and social game platforms. The Bettners were part of an exodus of key employees and executives at Zynga, which has reported weak financial results.