Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures in the video‑game sector can be a daunting task. To make life easier for industry observers, we publish regular round‑ups that capture the most noteworthy personnel moves. If your organisation has news to share—new appointments, internal transitions, or departures—please forward the details (name, new role, company, and previous position) to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. One of the headline announcements this month is the appointment of Ben Board as chief executive officer of The Performance Guys, the optimisation arm of CodeDev Group.
Board joins the team after a distinguished career that began at Epic Games in 2017, where he started as a developer support manager before moving on to become business development director for the Epic Game Store and Unreal Engine. His résumé also includes senior leadership posts at iconic studios such as Bullfrog Productions, Lionhead, 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." 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’s debut title, The Plucky Squire, launched in September 2024 and earned critical praise for its inventive mechanics and whimsical art style.
His return to Pokémon marks a homecoming for a designer who helped shape the visual language of the franchise for years. Respawn Entertainment announced the promotion of Billy King to lead concept artist.
King brings a wealth of experience from his previous stints as lead concept artist at ZeniMax Online Studios and senior concept artist at Amazon Games, where he contributed to a range of high‑profile projects across multiple genres. Team17 welcomed Sam Duncombe as brand marketing manager. Duncombe previously oversaw product strategy for games and film at Warner Bros.
Discovery, giving him a cross‑media perspective that should serve Team17’s expanding portfolio well. Loom Games added Cansu Karahan Can as its people‑and‑culture manager. Can’s background includes a similar role at Stoikk (formerly Kompanion), where she championed employee wellbeing and diversity initiatives.
Fellow Traveler promoted Christopher Wulf to senior business development manager. Since joining the company in 2021, Wulf has driven partnerships and event programming, building on earlier experience with The Triple‑i Initiative.
Wizards of the Coast named Julie Derhak a producer for Dungeons & Dragons. Derhak spent seven years at Epic Games, contributing to Fortnite Tech Art and the Lego‑Fortnite crossover, before moving to the tabletop giant. Mojang Studios appointed Alvaro Menéndez as international social lead.
Menéndez previously served as senior marketing manager for Epic Games in Madrid, where he oversaw global community campaigns. Frontier Developments promoted Linus Johnsson to senior audio designer.
Johnsson began his Frontier career in 2022 as a graduate audio designer and has since taken on larger responsibilities in sound design and implementation. After a seven‑year tenure at Epic Games, Nate Nanzer left to become executive vice president, head of commercial & marketing at Paramount Games.
Nanzer’s most recent Epic 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 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." Amazon Gaming hired Julia Gutnik as head of media. Gutnik previously led media, social, and analytics for Kia America and spent over six years at Prime Video and Amazon Studios, where she directed digital and ad‑tech media strategy.
"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," she explained. Studio MDHR announced Lorna Antoniazzi as art producer. Antoniazzi formerly worked at Roarty Digital on Fortnite Battle Royale and Lego Fortnite, bringing extensive experience in large‑scale art pipelines.
Grand Games added Aysu Kutbay as product manager, following her previous role at Rollic where she oversaw mobile game launches and live‑ops. Games Workshop welcomed back David Bailey as lead commercial manager – licensing. Bailey first joined the company in 2019 as senior licensing manager, departed in 2021 for a director role at Sumo Digital, and now returns to help steer licensing for 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. Second Stage appointed Liana Murphy as account director for US operations. Murphy previously held the dual titles of COO and head of public relations at Vicariously and V Publishing, giving her a strong operational background. Amazon Luna named Tim Coombs head of brand marketing.
Coombs previously directed brand management at Xbox until July 2026 and earlier served as product marketing manager for Amazon Lumberyard and senior product marketing manager for Amazon Game Tech. Erik Mogensen exited 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. Blizzard Entertainment hired Ryan Rubin as senior producer. Rubin came from Netflix, where he produced two shipped mobile titles—Squid Game: Unleashed and Selling Sunset—and spent five years at Riot Games working on creative development for the League of Legends IP. Battlestate Games appointed Andrey Odintsov as head of marketing.
Odintsov previously managed user acquisition at Multicast Games and now operates as an independent growth and go‑to‑market consultant. Frontier Developments announced Dan Lazarides as chief marketing officer, succeeding Jo Cooke after her promotion to CEO. Lazarides formerly served as senior vice president of marketing at Sega Europe.
"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," said CEO Jo Cooke. Kalypso Media UK named Karen Ionescu digital sales manager.
Ionescu brings experience from Numskull Games, Nintendo, and Rising Star Games. Managing director Andrew Johnson praised her commercial expertise and industry relationships. Swipe Right promoted Hannah Barrett to senior account executive. Barrett joined the esports and gaming communications agency in December 2025 as an account executive.
Supercell added Anni Pyy as contract manager after four years in the same role at Metacore. Fintech platform ZBD appointed Nathan Solbrandt as senior vice president of business development.
Solbrandt previously held senior account executive duties at Motorica and was vice president of business development for the Americas at Xsolla. Riot Games hired Olivia Lee as internal events producer, building on her prior experience as associate producer for internal programs. Xsolla welcomed Ciarah Pritchard as account coordinator; she previously worked as an account performance manager at Playback Rewards.
Bethesda announced the return of Tracey Thompson as vice president of communications. Thompson originally joined Bethesda in 2009, left for EA in 2019, and now comes back to support the studio’s flagship franchises. Nintendo of America named Maddie Richter social media marketing manager.
Richter previously managed social channels for Alaska Airlines. Yotta Games added narrative designer Dana Duffield, who formerly held a senior narrative designer role at Series Entertainment.
Yogscast Games introduced 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 a background in production, animation, and teaching at Submarine Art School and The Code Zone). Roblox’s Foundation AI team expanded with Steffen Holm and Chris Kruger, co‑founders of Jars AI, which raised $3.5 million from Google and other investors in 2023.
They will help develop the platform’s mobile‑first AI creation tool, Build, in New Zealand. Rockstar Games appointed Sathvik Sudireddy as marketing manager for live services. Sudireddy previously managed product development on Call of Duty at Activision after an internship in business development.
Netflix Games promoted Joe Chard to lead product manager. Chard’s prior experience includes senior leadership roles at Jam City, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Entertainment.