Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures across the games sector can be a real challenge. That’s why we put together periodic round‑ups that capture the most noteworthy movements.
If your organization has recent staffing changes that belong in this list, please forward the name, new title, company, and previous role to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. Former Epic Games executive Ben Board has been installed as chief executive officer of The Performance Guys, the optimisation arm of CodeDev Group. Board joined Epic in 2017 as a developer support manager, later becoming business development director for the Epic Game Store and Unreal Engine. His résumé also includes senior leadership positions at Bullfrog Productions, Lionhead Studios, and BossAlien.
"Ben is a true industry heavy‑hitter whose reputation and technical authority speak for themselves," said CodeDev Group founder Myke Parrot. "He understands game development from every angle – from coding 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 left Game Freak in 2022 to co‑found All Possible Futures with Jonathan Biddle, a studio that launched its debut title, The Plucky Squire, in September 2024. Billy King has been named lead concept artist at Respawn Entertainment. King previously held the same title at ZeniMax Online Studios and was senior concept artist at Amazon Games. Sam Duncombe moves to Team17 as brand marketing manager 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 that function at Stoikk (formerly Kompanion). Christopher Wulf earns a promotion to senior business development manager at Fellow Traveler.
Wulf entered Fellow Traveler in 2021 after a stint as senior business and event manager for The Triple‑i Initiative. Julie Derhak becomes a producer for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast.
She spent seven years at Epic Games, contributing to Fortnite Tech Art and the Lego Fortnite collaboration. Alvaro Menéndez is appointed international social lead at Mojang Studios. Before that, he was senior marketing manager for Epic Games in Madrid. Linus Johnsson advances to senior audio designer at Frontier Developments, having joined the studio in 2022 as a graduate audio designer.
After seven years at Epic Games, Nate Nanzer departs to take the role of EVP, head of commercial & marketing at Paramount Games. Nanzer’s most recent Epic position was SVP of partnerships and monetisation. "The scale of the ambition and vision here for what's next is incredibly exciting," he 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." Julia Gutnik steps into the head of media role at Amazon Gaming. Her previous experience includes leading media, social, and analytics at Kia America, as well as heading digital and ad‑tech media for Prime Video and Amazon Studios. Lorna Antoniazzi becomes art producer at Studio MDHR after producing at Roarty Digital on projects such as Fortnite Battle Royale and Lego Fortnite.
Aysu Kutbay is appointed product manager at Grand Games, following a product‑management role at Rollic. David Bailey returns to Games Workshop as lead commercial manager – licensing. Bailey first joined Games Workshop in 2019, left in 2021 for a director role at Sumo Digital, and now comes back to help drive new licensing opportunities within the Warhammer universe. Liana Murphy takes the position of account director, US operations, at Second Stage.
She most recently held dual roles as COO and head of public relations at Vicariously and V Publishing. Tim Coombs is named head of brand marketing for Amazon Luna. He previously directed brand management at Xbox (2020‑2026) and held product‑marketing leadership positions 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, ending as head of business development and consumer product licensing. Ryan Rubin joins Blizzard Entertainment as senior producer.
His background includes senior production work on Netflix mobile titles Squid Game: Unleashed and Selling Sunset, as well as five years at Riot Games on creative development for the League of Legends franchise. Andrey Odintsov becomes head of marketing at Battlestate Games. He previously 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 of Frontier Developments, succeeding Jo Cooke who moved to the CEO role. Lazarides formerly served as senior vice president of marketing at Sega Europe. Karen Ionescu takes the digital sales manager role at Kalypso Media UK after sales positions at Numskull Games, Nintendo, and Rising Star Games. Hannah Barrett is promoted to senior account executive at esports and gaming communications agency Swipe Right, having joined as an account executive in December 2025.
Supercell hires Anni Pyy as contract manager; she previously held the same title 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 VP role at Xsolla for the Americas.
Olivia Lee is appointed internal events producer at Riot Games, following a similar associate‑producer role for internal programs. Ciarah Pritchard joins Xsolla as account coordinator, after serving as account performance manager at Playback Rewards. Tracey Thompson returns to Bethesda as vice president of communications. Thompson originally joined Bethesda in 2009, left for EA in 2019, and now comes back to support iconic franchises across Bethesda and Xbox.
Maddie Richter becomes social media marketing manager at Nintendo of America, after a stint as social media manager for Alaska Airlines. Dana Duffield joins Yotta Games as a narrative designer, previously senior narrative designer at Series Entertainment.
Yogscast Games announces three new hires: Charlotte Willis (PR and influencer manager, formerly creator and community director at Diva Agency), Robin Mawhinney (production coordinator, previously junior producer at Atelier 11) and Charlotte Pang (publishing coordinator, with past experience as producer, animator and artist for Team Gramps and Queensguard, plus teaching roles at Submarine Art School and The Code Zone). Steffen Holm and Chris Kruger join Roblox’s Foundation AI team to bolster 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. Sathvik Sudireddy becomes marketing manager, live services at Rockstar Games, after product‑management work on Call of Duty at Activision.
Joe Chard is appointed lead product manager at Netflix Games, following senior leadership positions at Jam City, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Entertainment.