Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, departures, and promotions in the video‑game sector can be a real challenge, which is why we publish periodic round‑ups that gather all the noteworthy moves in one place. If you know of any recent appointments or role changes that belong in this list, please forward the individual's name, new title, new company, 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’s résumé includes a stint as business development director for the Epic Game Store and Unreal Engine, a role he assumed after joining Epic in 2017 as a developer‑support manager.
Earlier in his career he held senior leadership positions 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, with a reputation and technical clout that speak for themselves," said Myke Parrot, CEO of CodeDev Group. "He has seen game creation from every angle – from writing engine code to managing developer relations for the world’s biggest platforms. Appointing Ben as CEO of The Performance Guys sends a clear signal to publishers and studios: if your title suffers from performance bottlenecks on any engine, you now have the most capable team on the planet to resolve them." In other news, James Turner has re‑joined The Pokémon Company International, this time 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 received strong critical praise. Billy King has been named Lead Concept Artist at Respawn Entertainment. King previously led concept work at ZeniMax Online Studios and served as a senior concept artist for Amazon Games, bringing a wealth of experience in high‑concept visual development to his new role. Sam Duncombe moves to Team17 as Brand Marketing Manager after a tenure as Product Manager for games and film at Warner Bros.
Discovery, where he oversaw cross‑platform marketing initiatives. Cansu Karahan Can joins Loom Games as People and Culture Manager, having previously performed the same function at Stoikk (formerly Kompanion), where she helped shape the studio’s employee experience strategy. Christopher Wulf has earned a promotion to Senior Business Development Manager at Fellow Traveller. Wulf, who entered the company in 2021, previously served as 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 before moving to the tabletop giant. Alvaro Menéndez takes on the role of International Social Lead at Mojang Studios.
Prior to this, he was Senior Marketing Manager for Epic Games in Madrid, where he directed global social campaigns for flagship titles. Linus Johnsson has been promoted to Senior Audio Designer at Frontier Developments. Johnsson first joined Frontier in 2022 as a graduate audio designer and has since progressed through the sound‑design hierarchy. Nate Nanzer departs Epic Games after a seven‑year stint to become Executive Vice President, Head of Commercial & Marketing at Paramount Games.
At Epic his most recent titles were 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 chance to help shape Paramount's future was simply too compelling to pass up." Julia Gutnik is appointed Head of Media at Amazon Gaming.
She previously led media, social, and analytics for Kia America and spent over six years at Prime Video and Amazon Studios, where she oversaw digital and ad‑tech media operations. "After two years in the auto sector, I'm returning to my entertainment roots and to the place that shaped me into a global marketing leader," Gutnik remarked.
Lorna Antoniazzi becomes Art Producer at Studio MDHR, after serving as a producer at Roarty Digital on projects such as Fortnite Battle Royale and Lego Fortnite. Aysu Kutbay is named Product Manager at Grand Games, having earlier held the same title at Rollic where she managed mobile‑first titles. 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 says, "It's a privilege to return to the vast and evergreen Warhammer universes to help spearhead new business for licensing here." Liana Murphy takes the post of Account Director, US Operations at Second Stage after simultaneously serving as COO and Head of Public Relations at Vicariously and V Publishing.
Tim Coombs is appointed Head of Brand Marketing for Amazon Luna. He previously directed brand management at Xbox until July 2026 and earlier led product marketing 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.
Mogensen 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 shipped mobile titles at Netflix—Squid Game: Unleashed and Selling Sunset—and spent five years at Riot Games working on creative development for the League of Legends IP. Andrey Odintsov becomes Head of Marketing at Battlestate Games after a period as User Acquisition Manager at Multicast Games and work as an independent growth and go‑to‑market consultant.
Dan Lazarides is named Chief Marketing Officer of Frontier Developments. He previously held the Senior Vice President of Marketing role at Sega Europe and steps into the CMO slot following Jo Cooke’s promotion to CEO.
"His leadership in this genre will continue Frontier's upward momentum," Cooke said. Karen Ionescu takes on the Digital Sales Manager role at Kalypso Media UK, after sales positions at Numskull Games, Nintendo, and Rising Star Games. Managing Director Andrew Johnson praised her extensive retail and digital channel experience.
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; Pyy 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 Vice‑President stint at Xsolla for the Americas.
Olivia Lee is hired as Internal Events Producer at Riot Games, following an associate producer role for internal events and 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 says she looks forward to supporting the studios 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, previously a 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, formerly Junior Producer at Atelier 11), and Charlotte Pang (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 have been added to 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 explained.
Sathvik Sudireddy joins Rockstar Games as Marketing Manager for Live Services, 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 for six years, and held senior gaming positions at Disney and Warner Bros.
These movements illustrate the dynamic nature of talent flow across the industry, with seasoned veterans stepping into leadership positions, rising stars taking on greater responsibilities, and several professionals returning to former employers to continue shaping the future of interactive entertainment.