Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, departures, and promotions across the gaming sector can be a daunting task. To make it easier for readers, we regularly assemble these movements into concise 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 appointed Head of Media at Amazon Gaming. Prior to this, she led media, social, and analytics for Kia America and spent more than six years at Prime Video and Amazon Studios, where she oversaw digital and ad‑tech media initiatives.
"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 Art Producer. She previously worked as a producer at Roarty Digital, contributing to high‑profile projects such as Fortnite Battle Royale and the Lego Fortnite collaboration.
Aysu Kutbay is now Product Manager at Grand Games, after serving in the same capacity at Rollic where she helped launch several successful mobile titles. David Bailey has come back to Games Workshop, taking the position of Lead Commercial Manager – Licensing. Bailey originally joined Games Workshop in 2019 as Senior Licensing Manager, left in 2021 to become Director of Business Affairs at Sumo Digital, and now returns to the Warhammer universe.
"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 named Account Director, US Operations at Second Stage.
Before this role, she simultaneously held the COO and Head of Public Relations positions at Vicariously and V Publishing. Tim Coombs steps into the role of Head of Brand Marketing for Amazon Luna. He previously served as Director of Brand Management at Xbox until July 2026, having joined the Xbox team 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 exits 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 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, contributing to creative development across the League of Legends franchise.
Andrey Odintsov is appointed Head of Marketing at Battlestate Games. He previously worked as User Acquisition Manager at Multicast Games and currently operates as an independent growth and go‑to‑market consultant for various gaming projects. Dan Lazarides becomes Chief Marketing Officer at Frontier Developments.
Lazarides formerly served as Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sega Europe and succeeded Jo Cooke after she moved into the CEO role at Frontier in January. "We are delighted to welcome Dan to Frontier, who brings with him a wealth of experience on some of the industry's largest IP," said Cooke. "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 they play our games." Karen Ionescu takes the position of Digital Sales Manager at Kalypso Media UK. Ionescu previously worked as Sales Manager at Numskull Games and has held roles at 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 spent four years in a similar capacity at Metacore before moving to the Finnish developer.
Nathan Solbrandt is named SVP 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 becomes Internal Events Producer at Riot Games, having previously served as Associate Producer for internal events and programs within the company. 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 is appointed Social Media Marketing Manager at Nintendo of America, after serving as Social Media Manager for Alaska Airlines. Dana Duffield joins Yotta Games as Narrative Designer, following a senior narrative designer role at Series Entertainment. Yogscast Games announces three new hires: Charlotte Willis as PR and Influencer Manager (formerly Creator and Community Director at Diva Agency), Robin Mawhinney as Production Coordinator (previously Junior Producer at Atelier 11), and Charlotte Pang as Publishing Coordinator (with past experience as Producer, Animator, and Artist for Team Gramps and Queensguard, as well as teaching game design, animation, and coding at Submarine Art School and The Code Zone).
Steffen Holm and Chris Kruger become members of Roblox's Foundation AI team, focusing on the mobile‑first AI creation tool Build in New Zealand. The duo co‑founded 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. He previously worked as Product Manager on Call of Duty at Activision after completing an internship in business development at Rockstar. Joe Chard is appointed Lead Product Manager at Netflix Games.
Chard brings extensive experience, having served as Vice President, Studio General Manager, and Head of Product at Jam City for six years, as well as senior roles at The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Entertainment. These appointments, departures, and promotions illustrate the dynamic nature of talent movement within the video game industry, highlighting how experience from across entertainment, technology, and even unrelated sectors such as automotive can converge to shape the future of interactive media.