Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, departures, and promotions in the games sector can be a challenge, which is why we gather the most noteworthy personnel changes in periodic round‑ups. If you know of any recent appointments or role changes that belong in this list, please forward the individual’s name, new title, new employer, as well as their previous position and company to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. Nate Nanzer has departed Epic Games after a seven‑year tenure to assume the role of Executive Vice President, Head of Commercial & Marketing at Paramount Games. During his time at Epic, Nanzer held several senior positions, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Partnerships and Monetisation.
"The scale of the ambition and vision here for what's next is incredibly exciting," Nanzer said. "I've spent my career at the intersection of games, entertainment, and fandom, and the opportunity to help build what comes next at Paramount was simply too compelling to pass up." He added, "I'm deeply grateful to everyone at Epic and to all of the partners I've had the opportunity to work with along the way. I'll always be proud of what we accomplished together and will be cheering the team on from the sidelines." Julia Gutnik has been named Head of Media at Amazon Gaming. Prior to this, she led media, social, and analytics for Kia America and spent over six years at Prime Video and Amazon Studios, where she oversaw digital and ad‑tech media operations.
"After two years navigating the auto industry, I am returning to my entertainment roots, and to the place that shaped me into a global marketing leader," Gutnik explained. Lorna Antoniazzi joins Studio MDHR as an Art Producer.
She previously worked as a producer at Roarty Digital, contributing to titles such as Fortnite Battle Royale and Lego Fortnite. Aysu Kutbay has taken on the Product Manager role at Grand Games, after serving in the same capacity at Rollic. David Bailey is back at Games Workshop, this time as Lead Commercial Manager – Licensing. Bailey originally entered Games Workshop in 2019 as Senior Licensing Manager, left in 2021 to become Director of Business Affairs at Sumo Digital, and now returns to help drive new licensing initiatives across the Warhammer portfolio.
"It's a privilege to return to the vast and evergreen Warhammer universes to help spearhead new business for licensing here," he said. "It's an incredible opportunity and it's great to be back in the fold working alongside great people." Liana Murphy has been appointed Account Director for U.S. operations at Second Stage.
Before this, she simultaneously held the COO and Head of Public Relations positions at Vicariously and V Publishing. Tim Coombs steps into the Head of Brand Marketing spot for Amazon Luna. He previously served as Director of Brand Management at Xbox until July 2026, having joined the console maker in 2020 as Senior Manager for Brand Strategy.
Earlier in his career, Coombs was Product Marketing Manager for Amazon Lumberyard in 2017 and later Senior Product Marketing Manager and Team Lead for Amazon Game Tech until April 2020. Erik Mogensen departs Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast after three years as Senior Director of Business Development for Digital Gaming. Prior to that, he spent 23 years at Games Workshop, most recently as Head of Business Development and Consumer Product Licensing. "It's not lost on me how special it's been to have worked on, and for, my favourite brands," Mogensen reflected.
"First Warhammer, and most recently Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Transformers… the list goes on. I'm very much looking forward to my next chapter, whatever and wherever that may be." Ryan Rubin joins Blizzard Entertainment as a Senior Producer. Rubin previously held a senior producer role at Netflix, where he helped ship two mobile titles—Squid Game: Unleashed and Selling Sunset. He also spent five years at Riot Games, focusing on creative development within the League of Legends franchise.
Andrey Odintsov has been named Head of Marketing at Battlestate Games. He formerly worked as User Acquisition Manager at Multicast Games and currently operates as an independent growth and go‑to‑market consultant for the gaming sector. Dan Lazarides takes the position of Chief Marketing Officer at Frontier Developments. Lazarides previously served as Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sega Europe and succeeded Jo Cooke after her promotion to Frontier’s CEO in January.
Cooke praised the appointment, stating, "We are delighted to welcome Dan to Frontier, who brings with him a wealth of experience on some of the industry's largest IP. His leadership in this genre will continue Frontier's upward momentum, and his appointment to the role of CMO highlights our focus on our communities. Dan will be at the heart of our player‑first strategy, ensuring our publishing team champions player creativity and celebrates the way in which they play our games.
This strategy is paramount to our position as a genre‑leading creative management simulation studio and ensures that we continue to create incredible games." Karen Ionescu becomes Digital Sales Manager at Kalypso Media UK. Her background includes sales leadership roles at Numskull Games, Nintendo, and Rising Star Games.
Managing Director Andrew Johnson commented, "We're delighted to welcome Karen to Kalypso Media UK. She brings a wealth of commercial experience and long‑standing relationships across both retail and digital sales channels, making her a fantastic addition to the team." Hannah Barrett has been promoted to Senior Account Executive at esports and gaming communications agency Swipe Right, after joining as an Account Executive in December 2025. Supercell appoints Anni Pyy as Contract Manager; Pyy previously spent four years in the same capacity at Metacore.
Nathan Solbrandt steps into the role of Senior Vice President of Business Development at fintech platform ZBD. He previously worked as Senior Account Executive at Motorica and served as Vice President of Business Development for the Americas at Xsolla. Olivia Lee is now Internal Events Producer at Riot Games, having previously acted as Associate Producer for internal events and programs. Ciarah Pritchard joins Xsolla as Account Coordinator, after working as Account Performance Manager at Playback Rewards.
Tracey Thompson returns to Bethesda as Vice President of Communications. Thompson originally joined Bethesda in 2009 as Director of Publications, later becoming Associate VP of Communications. She left in 2019 for Electronic Arts, where she led product and studio integrated communications.
"I'm looking forward to partnering with the talented people across Bethesda and Xbox, supporting the teams behind some of the most iconic franchises in entertainment, and helping bring their creativity and vision to players around the world," Thompson said. Maddie Richter becomes Social Media Marketing Manager at Nintendo of America, after serving as Social Media Manager at Alaska Airlines. Dana Duffield joins Yotta Games as Narrative Designer, previously holding a senior narrative designer position at Series Entertainment. Yogscast Games, the UK publisher, announces three new hires: Charlotte Willis as PR and Influencer Manager (formerly Creator and Community Director at Diva Agency), Robin Mawhinney as Production Coordinator (previous junior producer at Atelier 11), and Charlotte Pang as Publishing Coordinator (formerly producer, animator, and artist for Team Gramps and Queensguard, and instructor at Submarine Art School and The Code Zone).
Steffen Holm and Chris Kruger have been added to Roblox’s Foundation AI team to support the mobile‑first AI creation tool Build in New Zealand. The duo co‑founded the interactive AI platform Jars AI in 2023, raising $3.5 million from Google and other investors. Holm remarked, "At Jars AI we saw hundreds of thousands of creators use AI to shape weird new worlds and stories, and we're excited to keep pushing the boundaries of AI entertainment in our new roles." Sathvik Sudireddy joins Rockstar Games as Marketing Manager for Live Services, after serving as Product Manager on Call of Duty at Activision and completing a business‑development internship at the studio.
Joe Chard has been named Lead Product Manager at Netflix Games. Chard previously held the titles of Vice President, Studio General Manager, and Head of Product at Jam City for six years, and also occupied senior roles at The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Entertainment.