Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, departures, and promotions in the games sector can be a daunting task, which is why we gather the most noteworthy moves into periodic round‑ups. If your studio has recent staffing changes that belong in this list, please forward the employee's name, new title, new employer, and previous position 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 first joined Epic in 2017 as a developer support manager before moving up to become business development director for the Epic Game Store and Unreal Engine.
His résumé also includes senior leadership posts at Bullfrog Productions, Lionhead Studios, and BossAlien, giving him a broad perspective on both classic and modern game development pipelines. "Ben is a genuine heavyweight in the industry, and his technical credibility speaks for itself," said Myke Parrot, CEO of CodeDev Group. "He knows game creation from the ground up – from writing engine scripts to overseeing developer relations for the planet's biggest platforms. Appointing Ben as CEO of The Performance Guys sends a clear signal: if a title is struggling with performance on any engine, we have the premier team on Earth to resolve it." In other news, James Turner has re‑joined The Pokémon Company International 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 released its debut title, The Plucky Squire, in September 2024. His return brings a wealth of experience in character design and brand stewardship back to the Pokémon franchise. Billy King has been promoted to Lead Concept Artist at Respawn Entertainment.
King previously held the same senior role at ZeniMax Online Studios and served as a senior concept artist for Amazon Games, where he contributed to multiple high‑profile projects. Sam Duncombe now serves as Brand Marketing Manager for Team17, after a stint as Product Manager for games and film at Warner Bros. Discovery.
His responsibilities will include shaping the public perception of Team17's diverse portfolio of titles. Cansu Karahan Can has taken the role of People and Culture Manager at Loom Games. Prior to this, she managed people and culture initiatives at Stoikk (formerly Kompanion), focusing on employee wellbeing and organisational development.
Christopher Wulf earned a promotion to Senior Business Development Manager at Fellow Traveler. Since joining the company in 2021, Wulf has driven partnership initiatives, building on his earlier experience as Senior Business and Event Manager for The Triple‑i Initiative.
Julie Derhak has been named 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, before moving into tabletop gaming production. Alvaro Menéndez is now International Social Lead at Mojang Studios.
He previously worked as Senior Marketing Manager for Epic Games in Madrid, where he oversaw global community engagement campaigns. Linus Johnsson has been elevated to Senior Audio Designer at Frontier Developments.
He first joined Frontier in 2022 as a graduate audio designer and has since progressed to lead the studio's sound design efforts across multiple titles. 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 position was SVP of Partnerships and Monetisation. "The scale of ambition at Paramount is incredibly exciting," Nanzer said.
"My career has always sat at the intersection of games, entertainment, and fandom, and the chance to help shape what comes next at Paramount was simply too compelling to pass up." Julia Gutnik steps into 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 Amazon Studios and Prime Video, where she managed digital and ad‑tech media strategies. "After two years in the automotive sector, I'm thrilled to return to my entertainment roots and the company that helped shape me as a global marketing leader," she remarked. Lorna Antoniazzi has been appointed Art Producer at Studio MDHR.
She previously produced at Roarty Digital, contributing to Fortnite Battle Royale and Lego Fortnite projects. Aysu Kutbay joins Grand Games as Product Manager, after serving in the same capacity at Rollic, where she oversaw live‑ops and user‑acquisition strategies. 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 drive new licensing opportunities across the Warhammer universe. Liana Murphy becomes Account Director for US Operations at Second Stage, having previously held simultaneous COO and Head of PR positions at Vicariously and V Publishing.
Tim Coombs takes the helm as Head of Brand Marketing for Amazon Luna. He previously directed brand management at Xbox until July 2026, after joining the console giant in 2020 as Senior Manager for Brand Strategy. Earlier, he was Product Marketing Manager for Amazon Lumberyard in 2017 and later Senior Product Marketing Manager and Team Lead for 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. "Working on my favourite brands – Warhammer, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Transformers – has been a privilege," he reflected, "and I look forward to the next chapter wherever it leads." Ryan Rubin joins Blizzard Entertainment as Senior Producer. His background includes senior producer roles at Netflix for mobile titles Squid Game: Unleashed and Selling Sunset, as well as 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 previously managed user acquisition at Multicast Games and now operates as an independent growth and go‑to‑market consultant for the gaming sector. Dan Lazarides has been named Chief Marketing Officer of Frontier Developments.
Before joining Frontier, he was Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sega Europe and succeeded Jo Cooke after she moved to the CEO role in January. Cooke praised his appointment, noting that his experience with major IPs will reinforce Frontier's player‑first strategy. Karen Ionescu takes on the role of Digital Sales Manager at Kalypso Media UK. Her prior experience includes sales management at Numskull Games, as well as roles at Nintendo and Rising Star Games.
Managing Director Andrew Johnson highlighted her extensive commercial background and strong retailer relationships. 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 held the same position at Metacore for four years.
Nathan Solbrandt becomes 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 is now Internal Events Producer at Riot Games, having previously coordinated internal events and programs for the studio.
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 as Director of Publications, later becoming Associate VP of Communications before leaving for EA in 2019. She said, "I'm excited to work with the talented teams at Bethesda and Xbox to support iconic franchises and bring their creative visions to players worldwide." Maddie Richter has been hired as Social Media Marketing Manager for Nintendo of America, after managing social media for Alaska Airlines.
Dana Duffield joins Yotta Games as Narrative Designer, following a senior narrative design role 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, as well as teaching game design and coding at Submarine Art School and The Code Zone).
Steffen Holm and Chris Kruger have joined 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 strange new worlds, 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.
He previously worked as Product Manager on Call of Duty at Activision after an internship in business development at the developer. Joe Chard is appointed Lead Product Manager at Netflix Games. Chard's background includes serving 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 interactive entertainment industry, highlighting how experience across platforms, studios, and even adjacent sectors such as automotive or fintech continues to enrich game development and publishing worldwide.