Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures in the video‑game sector can be a daunting task. To make it easier for industry observers, we publish periodic round‑ups that capture the most noteworthy personnel moves.
If you know of a change that belongs in this list—whether it’s a new appointment, a transition, or a departure—please forward the individual's name, new title, and company, along with their previous position and employer, to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. Brian Trunk has been promoted to senior vice president of Route to Market for the Americas at Asmodee.
Trunk’s relationship with Asmodee stretches back more than ten years, during which he served as a trusted partner on a variety of strategic initiatives. Before rejoining Asmodee, he spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast, where his most recent title was vice president of commercial, digital games revenue, and the Wizards Play Network.
At Wizards, he also held several senior leadership posts, including vice president and general manager for the EMEA, LATAM, and APAC regions. "I’m grateful for my years at Wizards of the Coast and for the people who challenged, taught, and shaped me into the leader I am today," Trunk said. "I’ve always believed the most successful businesses are built on great people, strong relationships, trust, and community. At Asmodee, those values intersect with something I care deeply about: a shared love of games.
That’s why this move feels personal, and it’s at the heart of how I want to lead here." In another notable appointment, David Scarborough has joined Blizzard Entertainment as senior manager of EMEA communications. Scarborough brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles as senior account director at Brands2Life and head of communications at Inflexion Games, as well as senior positions at Improbable and Koch Media/Deep Silver.
His background in brand strategy and media relations is expected to strengthen Blizzard’s outreach across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. King has announced the return of Esther Lopez as principal VFX artist.
Lopez originally came to King in 2014 as a senior artist, earned a promotion to associate principal VFX artist in 2020, and then left in 2022 to work at Meta as a real‑time VFX specialist in VR‑AR. "Coming back to somewhere I know well, in a new role, is a rare kind of privilege," Lopez explained. "King is where I grew up as an artist, and where some of my best memories were made, making this opportunity even more special.
After almost four years at Meta building immersive experiences, I hope I can bring the best of that back with me." Magda Marcinkowska has been named production manager in marketing at CD Projekt Red. Prior to this, she served as acting publishing operations director at Techland, where she oversaw cross‑functional pipelines that linked development, publishing, and post‑launch support. Her expertise in coordinating large‑scale production schedules will be valuable as CD Projekt Red expands its portfolio of RPG titles.
Linh Lai has secured a full‑time position as accounting assistant at Newzoo after completing a six‑month internship. "The experiences I’ve gained throughout these six months have helped me better understand not only how individual accounting processes work, but also how they connect to the wider business," Lai said. "I’m excited to take on more responsibility, deepen my accounting and finance knowledge, find more ways to make our accounting processes even more efficient, and contribute more to the team as I grow with Newzoo." Tommi Virolainen joins Kokoon Games as a senior game programmer.
Virolainen previously worked as a tech programmer at Metacore and held senior programming and development roles at Lightneer, where he contributed to several successful mobile titles. His technical leadership is expected to accelerate Kokoon’s upcoming projects in the rhythm‑game space. Christopher Holtorf has been appointed senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red. Before this, he was senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios, where he helped craft story‑driven experiences for online multiplayer games.
Holtorf’s narrative sensibility will be applied to CD Projekt Red’s next generation of open‑world adventures. Amir Satvat has taken on the role of general manager at 1Up Ventures.
Satvat previously served as business development director at Tencent Games and founded Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), a platform that assists job seekers in the gaming sector. "I wanted to feel a more direct connection between the things I could influence and do with a team and putting people back to work," Satvat explained. "I also hoped I could work in a setting focused on smaller studios, because I love games of that size so much, and in a setting built around community first.
My final wish was to work with colleagues who share the same values and integrity I try to hold myself to. In accepting the team’s invitation to join 1Up, I am seeing all of these wishes realised.
1Up is a very important player in the games ecosystem, and I want to see its unique approach to games investing survive for as long as possible." Lasse Seppänen announced his departure from Supercell after a seven‑year tenure. He joined the company in 2019 as a producer and later served as head of game production services and general manager for Supercell London. "Now it’s time to follow my passion for creating new game IPs again," Seppänen said. "I’m staying in the UK, and in 2027 I’m planning to start my own studio once again – more on that when the time is right." Take‑Two Interactive has named Giles Derrington director of global affairs UK.
Derrington previously headed public affairs for TikTok in the United Kingdom, where he managed regulatory and policy engagement on behalf of the platform. Jess Pearce has been promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive. Pearce began at Kepler as a people advisor in 2022, advanced to people partner in 2024, and now oversees talent strategy for the fast‑growing independent publisher.
Shreya Godha has moved up to producer at PlaySimple Games after serving as associate producer. Her experience in mobile puzzle titles will support PlaySimple’s expansion into new markets. Epic Games appointed Kelly Ekins as director of communications. Ekins previously held the senior director of global PR role for Unity’s Games and Made with Unity program, after starting at Unity in 2018 as marketing lead for media and entertainment.
Earlier in her career, she was studio lead for game marketing and communications at Warner Brothers Games Montreal. Housemarque co‑founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen stepped down after 31 years. Kuittinen co‑founded the studio with Harri Tikkanen in 1995 after merging their companies Bloodhouse and Terramarque.
"Looking back, I feel immensely fortunate," Kuittinen reflected. "We had the luck of being in the right place at the right time during three decades of incredible industry growth, allowing us to stay fiercely independent for 26 years before finding a home within the PlayStation Studios family.
We have been planning this leadership transition carefully behind the scenes. On July 1, Sami ‘Haxu’ Hakala officially stepped into the managing director role, and I have continued supporting him and the leadership team until today to ensure complete operational continuity and stability. Housemarque’s strategy and creative vision are in exceptional hands." Tamara Feiman has been appointed chief executive officer of Lion Studios, the publishing arm of Tripledot Studios. Feiman began her career at Lion in 2020 as EMEA business development lead and later became publishing general manager.
"I joined Lion six years ago," she said. "Since then, I’ve had the privilege of growing alongside the company through its biggest successes, challenges and transformations. What has always made Lion special is how we work with our partner studios. Together, we’ve taken risks, learned quickly and turned great ideas into games played by millions.
Lion has never been about one person. I’m fortunate to work alongside an incredible team across publishing, growth, product, engineering and market intelligence, as well as our talented studio partners around the world." Heather Sangria has taken the role of community manager at Sega of America. Previously, she worked as a contract social strategist and community lead at One More Game and as digital strategy and community manager at Undead Labs, giving her a strong background in fostering player engagement.
Emily Rose Chen has been promoted to senior product manager for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, after joining the company as a financial analyst in 2020 and moving into product management roles. Scot McCarron has advanced to senior director of product management for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard. McCarron originally joined Activision in 2018 as product marketing manager for emerging franchises and later served as director of product management on the Call of Duty series. These appointments, promotions, and departures illustrate the dynamic nature of talent movement within the gaming ecosystem, highlighting how experience across development, publishing, finance, and community management continues to shape the industry’s evolution.