Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions and departures in the games sector can be a real challenge, which is why we publish periodic round‑ups of the most notable moves. If you know of any personnel 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 taking on the role of 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 engine scripting to developer relations on the world’s biggest platforms. Appointing Ben as CEO sends a clear signal: if your title suffers performance issues on any engine, we have the best team on the planet to fix it." James Turner has rejoined The Pokémon Company International as creative director of Pokémon Art and Design.
Turner left Game Freak in 2022 to co‑found All Possible Futures with Jonathan Biddle; the studio released its first 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 named lead concept artist at Respawn Entertainment. King previously headed concept art at ZeniMax Online Studios and served as senior concept artist for Amazon Games, contributing to a range of sci‑fi and fantasy visual projects. Sam Duncombe moves to Team17 as brand marketing manager after a stint as product manager for games and film at Warner Bros.
Discovery. Cansu Karahan Can joins Loom Games as people and culture manager, having overseen similar functions at Stoikk (formerly Kompanion). Christopher Wulf earned a promotion to senior business development manager at Fellow Traveller, where he has worked since 2021.
Before that he was senior business and event manager for The Triple‑i Initiative. Julie Derhak is now 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 becomes international social lead at Mojang Studios after serving as 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. Nate Nanzer departs Epic Games after a seven‑year tenure to assume the role of EVP, head of commercial & marketing at Paramount Games. At Epic he most recently held the SVP title for 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." Julia Gutnik steps into the head of media role at Amazon Gaming. Previously she led media, social and analytics for Kia America and spent over six years at Prime Video and Amazon Studios as head of digital and ad‑tech media. "After two years in the auto sector, I am returning to my entertainment roots and to the place that shaped me into a global marketing leader," she explained.
Lorna Antoniazzi joins Studio MDHR as art producer, after producing at Roarty Digital on Fortnite Battle Royale and Lego Fortnite. Aysu Kutbay becomes product manager at Grand Games, having previously held the same title at Rollic. David Bailey returns to Games Workshop as lead commercial manager – licensing. Bailey originally joined the company in 2019, left in 2021 for a director role at Sumo Digital, and now says, "It's a privilege to return to the vast and evergreen Warhammer universes to help spearhead new business for licensing here." Liana Murphy is appointed account director for US operations at Second Stage, after serving simultaneously as COO and head of PR at Vicariously and V Publishing.
Tim Coombs takes over as head of brand marketing for Amazon Luna. He previously directed brand management at Xbox (2020‑2026) and 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. 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, after senior producer roles at Netflix (Squid Game: Unleashed, Selling Sunset) and five years at Riot Games on League of Legends creative development. Andrey Odintsov becomes head of marketing at Battlestate Games, following user‑acquisition work at Multicast Games and independent growth consulting.
Dan Lazarides is named chief marketing officer of Frontier Developments. He previously served as senior vice‑president of marketing at Sega Europe and replaces Jo Cooke, who moved to Frontier's CEO post. "His leadership in this genre will continue Frontier's upward momentum," said CEO Jo Cooke.
Karen Ionescu takes the digital sales manager position at Kalypso Media UK, after sales roles at Numskull Games, Nintendo and Rising Star Games. "She brings a wealth of commercial experience and long‑standing relationships across both retail and digital sales channels," remarked Managing Director Andrew Johnson. 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 appoints Anni Pyy as contract manager; she previously held the same role at Metacore for four years.
Nathan Solbrandt becomes SVP of business development at fintech platform ZBD, after senior account work at Motorica and a VP role at Xsolla for the Americas. Olivia Lee joins Riot Games as internal events producer, after serving as associate producer for internal events and programs. Ciarah Pritchard is hired as account coordinator at Xsolla, previously an account performance manager at Playback Rewards.
Tracey Thompson returns to Bethesda as VP of communications. She originally joined Bethesda in 2009, left in 2019 for EA, and now says, "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." 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 narrative designer, following senior narrative design work 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 (ex‑junior producer at Atelier 11) and Charlotte Pang as publishing coordinator (previously 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.
"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," Holm said. Sathvik Sudireddy is hired by Rockstar Games as marketing manager, live services, after product management on Call of Duty at Activision and a business‑development internship at Rockstar. Joe Chard becomes lead product manager at Netflix Games, after serving as VP, studio general manager and head of product at Jam City, and holding senior games positions at Disney and Warner Bros.
Entertainment.