Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures across the games sector can be a real challenge, which is why we publish periodic round‑ups that gather the most notable movements in one place. If you know of a transition that belongs in this list, please forward the employee’s name, new title, new company, and previous role/company to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. Former Epic Games executive Ben Board has been appointed chief executive officer of The Performance Guys, the optimisation arm of CodeDev Group. Board’s career began at Epic in 2017 when he joined as a developer support manager, later advancing to business development director for the Epic Game Store and Unreal Engine.
Earlier stints include senior leadership positions at Bullfrog Productions, Lionhead Studios, and BossAlien. "Ben is a true industry heavyweight whose reputation and technical authority speak for themselves," said CodeDev Group founder Myke Parrot. "He understands game development from every angle – from writing engine scripts to managing developer relations for the world’s biggest platforms and engines. Bringing Ben in as CEO of The Performance Guys sends an unmistakable message to the market: if your game has a performance problem on any engine, we have the best team on the planet to fix it." James Turner has re‑joined The Pokémon Company International, this time as creative director of Pokémon Art and Design.
Turner originally left Game Freak in 2022 to co‑found All Possible Futures with Jonathan Biddle; the studio’s debut title, The Plucky Squire, launched in September 2024. Billy King steps into the role of lead concept artist at Respawn Entertainment.
King previously held the same title at ZeniMax Online Studios and was a senior concept artist at Amazon Games, contributing to a range of high‑profile projects. Sam Duncombe has taken the position of brand marketing manager at Team 17, after serving as product manager for games and film at Warner Bros.
Discovery. Cansu Karahan Can joins Loom Games as people‑and‑culture manager, having previously performed the same function at Stoikk (formerly Kompanion). Christopher Wulf has been promoted to senior business development manager at Fellow Traveller.
Wulf entered the firm in 2021 and before that worked for The Triple‑i Initiative as senior business and event manager. Julie Derhak becomes a producer for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast.
She spent seven years at Epic Games, where she contributed to Fortnite Tech Art and the Lego Fortnite collaboration. Alvaro Menéndez is now international social lead at Mojang Studios. He previously served as senior marketing manager for Epic Games’ Madrid office.
Linus Johnsson has been elevated to senior audio designer at Frontier Developments. Johnsson first joined Frontier in 2022 as a graduate audio designer and has progressed through the audio team ever since. Nate Nanzer departs Epic Games after a seven‑year tenure to become executive vice‑president, head of commercial & marketing at Paramount Games.
At Epic his most recent role was senior vice‑president of partnerships and monetisation. "The scale of the ambition and vision here for what's next is incredibly exciting," Nanzer explained.
"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." Julia Gutnik assumes the role of head of media at Amazon Gaming. Before this, she led media, social, and analytics for Kia America and spent over six years at Prime Video and Amazon Studios, heading digital and ad‑tech media.
Lorna Antoniazzi is appointed art producer at Studio MDHR, after previously producing at Roarty Digital where she worked on Fortnite Battle Royale and Lego Fortnite. Aysu Kutbay becomes product manager at Grand Games, following a product‑management stint at Rollic. David Bailey returns to Games Workshop as lead commercial manager – licensing.
Bailey first joined Games Workshop in 2019 as senior licensing manager, left in 2021 for a director role at Sumo Digital, and now comes back to help steer licensing for the Warhammer franchises. "It's a privilege to return to the vast and evergreen Warhammer universes to help spearhead new business for licensing here," he said. Liana Murphy is now account director, US operations at Second Stage, after simultaneously serving as COO and head of public relations at Vicariously and V Publishing. Tim Coombs takes charge of brand marketing for Amazon Luna.
He previously directed brand management at Xbox until July 2026, having joined Microsoft in 2020 as senior manager for brand strategy, and earlier held product marketing roles for Amazon Lumberyard and Amazon Game Tech. 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," he reflected. Ryan Rubin joins Blizzard Entertainment as senior producer.
Rubin previously produced two shipped mobile titles at Netflix – Squid Game: Unleashed and Selling Sunset – and spent five years at Riot Games working on creative development for the League of Legends IP. Andrey Odintsov becomes head of marketing at Battlestate Games. He formerly managed user acquisition at Multicast Games and now works as an independent growth and go‑to‑market consultant. Dan Lazarides is appointed chief marketing officer at Frontier Developments, after serving as senior vice‑president of marketing at Sega Europe.
He replaces Jo Cooke, who moved to the CEO role at Frontier in January. Cooke praised Lazarides, noting his experience with major IPs and his focus on a player‑first strategy. Karen Ionescu takes the digital sales manager post at Kalypso Media UK. Her background includes sales leadership at Numskull Games, Nintendo, and Rising Star Games.
Managing director Andrew Johnson highlighted her extensive retail and digital channel experience. Hannah Barrett is promoted to senior account executive at esports and gaming communications agency Swipe Right, after joining as an account executive in December 2025.
Supercell names Anni Pyy as contract manager; Pyy previously held the same role at Metacore for four years. Nathan Solbrandt becomes senior vice‑president of business development at fintech platform ZBD, after senior account work at Motorica and a vice‑president role at Xsolla for the Americas. Olivia Lee is appointed internal events producer at Riot Games, having earlier served as associate producer for internal events and programs. Ciarah Pritchard joins Xsolla as account coordinator, after working as an account performance manager at Playback Rewards.
Tracey Thompson returns to Bethesda as vice‑president of communications. Thompson originally joined Bethesda in 2009, left in 2019 for EA, and now looks forward to supporting iconic franchises across Bethesda and Xbox.
Maddie Richter becomes social media marketing manager at Nintendo of America, after a tenure as social media manager at Alaska Airlines. Dana Duffield joins Yotta Games as a 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 (previous junior producer at Atelier 11), and Charlotte Pang as publishing coordinator (former producer, animator, and artist for Team Gramps and Queensguard, and instructor at Submarine Art School and The Code Zone).
Steffen Holm and Chris Kruger join Roblox’s Foundation AI team to support the mobile‑first AI creation tool Build in New Zealand. The duo co‑founded Jars AI in 2023 and raised $3.5 million from Google and other investors. Holm said, "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 becomes marketing manager, live services at Rockstar Games, after product‑management work on Call of Duty at Activision and a business‑development internship at Rockstar. Joe Chard is appointed lead product manager at Netflix Games, following a six‑year stretch as vice‑president, studio general manager, and head of product at Jam City, plus senior roles at Disney and Warner Bros.