Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, departures and promotions in the games sector can be a challenge, which is why we publish periodic round‑ups of the most notable moves. If you know of a change that belongs 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 appointed 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 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 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 debut title, The Plucky Squire, 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 senior concept artist at Amazon Games.
Sam Duncombe moves to Team17 as Brand Marketing Manager after serving as Product Manager – 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 is promoted to Senior Business Development Manager at Fellow Traveller. He first joined the firm 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.
Derhak spent seven years at Epic Games, where she worked on Fortnite Tech Art and the Lego‑Fortnite collaboration. Alvaro Menéndez takes the position of International Social Lead at Mojang Studios. Before that he was senior marketing manager for Epic Games in Madrid.
Linus Johnsson is promoted to Senior Audio Designer at Frontier Developments. He entered Frontier in 2022 as a graduate audio designer and has progressed steadily since.
Nate Nanzer departs Epic Games after a seven‑year tenure to become EVP, Head of Commercial & Marketing at Paramount Games. At Epic his most recent title was SVP 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." Julia Gutnik is appointed Head of Media at Amazon Gaming. Her previous role was Head of Media, Social & Analytics at Kia America, and she also spent six years at Prime Video and Amazon Studios overseeing digital and ad‑tech media.
Lorna Antoniazzi joins Studio MDHR as Art Producer after working as a producer 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 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 new licensing initiatives for the Warhammer universe. Liana Murphy is named Account Director, US Operations at Second Stage.
She most recently served as COO and Head of Public Relations at Vicariously and V Publishing. Tim Coombs takes over as Head of Brand Marketing for Amazon Luna.
Prior to this he was Director of Brand Management at Xbox until July 2026, having joined Microsoft in 2020 as senior manager for brand strategy. Earlier, he served as Product Marketing Manager for Amazon Lumberyard in 2017 and later as Senior Product Marketing Manager and team lead for Amazon Game Tech. Erik Mogensen leaves Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast after three years as Senior Director of Business Development for digital gaming. Before 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 mobile titles for Netflix – Squid Game: Unleashed and Selling Sunset – and spent five years at Riot Games developing creative content for the League of Legends franchise.
Andrey Odintsov is appointed Head of Marketing at Battlestate Games. He formerly worked as User Acquisition Manager at Multicast Games and now operates as an independent growth and go‑to‑market consultant. Dan Lazarides becomes Chief Marketing Officer at Frontier Developments.
He previously held the Senior Vice President of Marketing role at Sega Europe and succeeded Jo Cooke after her promotion to CEO of Frontier in January. Cooke praised Lazarides, noting his experience with large IPs and his focus on a player‑first strategy.
Karen Ionescu is named Digital Sales Manager at Kalypso Media UK. Her background includes sales leadership at Numskull Games, Nintendo and Rising Star Games. Managing Director Andrew Johnson said her extensive retail and digital relationships make her a valuable addition.
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 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 is hired as Internal Events Producer at Riot Games, following a similar associate producer position 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 VP of Communications. Thompson originally joined Bethesda in 2009, left in 2019 for EA, and now looks forward to supporting iconic franchises alongside 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 Narrative Designer, having previously been Senior Narrative Designer 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. Sathvik Sudireddy becomes Marketing Manager, Live Services at Rockstar Games after product management work on Call of Duty at Activision and an internship in business development at Rockstar. Joe Chard is appointed Lead Product Manager at Netflix Games. Chard previously served as Vice President, Studio General Manager and Head of Product at Jam City, and held senior game roles at Disney and Warner Bros.