Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures in the video‑game sector can be a challenge, which is why we publish periodic round‑ups that gather all of the noteworthy moves in one place. If you know of a new appointment or a transition that belongs in this list, please forward the individual's name, new title, new company, and previous position to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. Brian Trunk has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Route‑to‑Market for the Americas at Asmodee.
Trunk has been affiliated with Asmodee for more than ten years, initially joining as a partner before rising through the ranks. Prior to his current role he spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast, where his most recent titles included Vice President of Commercial, Digital Games Revenue, and head of the Wizards Play Network. During his tenure at Wizards he also served as Vice President and General Manager for the EMEA, LATAM, and APAC regions, overseeing sales, distribution, and partnership strategies across those markets.
"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." David Scarborough has joined Blizzard Entertainment as Senior Manager of EMEA Communications. Before Blizzard, Scarborough was Senior Account Director at Brands2Life and headed communications at Inflexion Games. His résumé also includes senior communications roles at Improbable and at Koch Media/Deep Silver, giving him a broad perspective on media strategy across both indie and AAA publishers.
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 for VR‑AR projects.
"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, Marketing at CD Projekt Red.
Marcinkowska previously acted as Publishing Operations Director at Techland, where she coordinated release schedules, localized assets, and cross‑functional pipelines for multiple 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 Senior Game Programmer. Virolainen previously worked as a Tech Programmer at Metacore and held senior programming and development positions at Lightneer, where he focused on performance optimisation and cross‑platform toolchains. Christopher Holtorf has been appointed Senior Quest Designer at CD Projekt Red.
Before this, he served as Senior Narrative Designer at Intrepid Studios, crafting story arcs and quest structures for large‑scale RPGs. Amir Satvat is now General Manager of 1Up Ventures. Satvat came from Tencent Games, where he was Business Development Director, and he also founded Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), a platform that connects job seekers with opportunities in the industry. "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 wanted to see more people's dreams of making games come true because of something I did. 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 has announced his departure from Supercell after a seven‑year tenure. He joined Supercell in 2019 as a producer, later becoming 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 appointed Giles Derrington as Director of Global Affairs, UK.
Derrington previously led Public Affairs for TikTok in the United Kingdom, where he managed regulatory outreach and stakeholder engagement. Jess Pearce has been promoted to Senior People Partner at Kepler Interactive. Pearce started at Kepler in 2022 as a People Advisor, moved to People Partner in 2024, and now oversees talent strategy for the rapidly expanding independent publisher.
Shreya Godha has been elevated to Producer at PlaySimple Games after serving as Associate Producer. In her new capacity she will oversee live‑ops, feature development, and cross‑functional coordination for the studio’s portfolio of casual titles. Epic Games has named Kelly Ekins Director of Communications. Ekins previously held the Senior Director of Global PR role for Unity’s Games and Made with Unity Program, after joining 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. Ilari Kuittinen, co‑founder and Managing Director of Housemarque, is stepping down after 31 years.
Kuittinen co‑established the studio in 1995 together with Harri Tikkanen, merging their earlier 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 CEO of Lion Studios, the publishing arm of Tripledot Studios.
Feiman began her career at Lion in 2020 as EMEA Business Development Lead, later becoming 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. But 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. And 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 joined Sega of America as Community Manager. Sangria previously acted as a contract Social Strategist and Community Lead at One More Game and held a digital‑strategy and community role at Undead Labs, where she built engagement programs for horror‑focused titles.
Emily Rose Chen has been promoted to Senior Product Manager for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard. Chen entered the company as a Financial Analyst in 2020, later moving into product management and now overseeing key feature roadmaps for the franchise. Scot McCarron has been elevated 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, progressed to Director of Product Management on Call of Duty, and now leads a large team responsible for the series’ long‑term product strategy. These announcements reflect the ongoing dynamism of the games industry, where talent moves frequently, new studios emerge, and established companies continue to evolve their leadership to meet the challenges of an ever‑changing market.