Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures across the games sector can be a daunting task. To make it easier for industry observers and professionals alike, we gather the most noteworthy personnel movements into periodic round‑ups.
If you know of a recent appointment or a transition that belongs in this list, please forward the individual's name, new title, new company, as well as their previous position and employer to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. Brian Trunk has been elevated 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 partner and helped shape the company’s distribution strategies.
Before rejoining Asmodee, he spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast, where his most recent responsibilities included serving as vice president of commercial operations, overseeing digital games revenue, and managing the Wizards Play Network. At Wizards, Trunk also held a series of senior leadership posts, such as vice president and general manager for the EMEA, LATAM, and APAC regions, giving him a truly global perspective on market development. "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 converge with something else 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 move, David Scarborough has joined Blizzard Entertainment as senior manager of EMEA communications. Scarborough arrives with a robust background in brand and media relations, having previously served as senior account director at Brands2Life and head of communications at Inflexion Games. His résumé also includes senior communications roles at Improbable and at Koch Media/Deep Silver, equipping him with a nuanced understanding of how to convey complex gaming narratives to diverse European audiences.
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 departed in 2022 to work at Meta as a real‑time VFX specialist focusing on VR‑AR experiences. "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 appointment, Marcinkowska acted as publishing operations director at Techland, where she oversaw the coordination of multiple title launches and the optimization of cross‑functional workflows. Linh Lai has secured a permanent 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 remarked.
"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 positions at Lightneer, bringing a strong background in performance‑critical code and cross‑platform engine work. Christopher Holtorf has been appointed senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red.
Before this role, Holtorf served as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios, where he crafted branching storylines and immersive quest structures for large‑scale multiplayer experiences. Amir Satvat steps into the role of general manager at 1Up Ventures. Satvat’s prior experience includes serving as business development director at Tencent Games, as well as founding and leading the community‑focused organization Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), which helps job seekers connect with opportunities across 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 said. "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 Supercell in 2019 as a producer and later advanced to 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 explained.
"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 for the UK. Derrington previously led public affairs for TikTok in the United Kingdom, where he managed regulatory engagement and media strategy. Jess Pearce has been promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive.
Pearce originally joined Kepler as a people advisor in 2022, progressed to people partner in 2024, and now oversees talent strategy across the rapidly expanding independent publisher. Shreya Godha has moved up to producer at PlaySimple Games after serving as associate producer. In her new capacity, Godha will oversee end‑to‑end production pipelines for the company’s casual and hyper‑casual titles. Epic Games named Kelly Ekins as director of communications.
Ekins comes from Unity, where she was senior director of global public relations for the Games and Made with Unity program. Earlier in her career she held the role of studio lead for game marketing and communications at Warner Brothers Games Montreal and began at Unity in 2018 as marketing lead for media and entertainment. Ilari Kuittinen, co‑founder and managing director of Housemarque, has stepped down after 31 years.
Kuittinen co‑established Housemarque in 1995 alongside Harri Tikkanen after merging their studios Bloodhouse and Terramarque. Reflecting on his tenure, Kuittinen said, "Looking back, I feel immensely fortunate.
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 named chief executive officer of Tripledot Studios’ Lion Studios. Feiman began her career at Lion Studios 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. 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. Prior to this, she worked as a contract social strategist and community lead at One More Game and held a digital strategy and community management position at Undead Labs.
Emily Rose Chen has been promoted to senior product manager for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard. Chen started at the company in 2020 as a financial analyst, later moving into product management before earning her senior title. Scot McCarron has also advanced within Activision Blizzard, becoming senior director of product management for Call of Duty. McCarron originally joined the firm in 2018 as product marketing manager for emerging franchises and later served as director of product management on the Call of Duty portfolio.
These appointments, promotions, and departures illustrate the dynamic nature of talent movement in the interactive entertainment industry, highlighting both the continuity of seasoned leaders and the infusion of fresh perspectives that drive innovation across studios, publishers, and service providers.