Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures across the video‑game sector can be a daunting task. To make it easier for industry observers and professionals alike, we publish periodic round‑ups that capture the most noteworthy personnel moves. If you know of a transition that belongs in this list—whether it’s a new appointment, a promotion, or an exit—please forward the relevant details (name, new title, new company, plus former role 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 strategy. Prior to re‑joining Asmodee, he spent seventeen years at Wizards of the Coast, where his most recent responsibilities included overseeing commercial operations, digital‑games revenue, and the Wizards Play Network. His tenure at Wizards also saw him hold a series of senior leadership posts, such as 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 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 shift, David Scarborough has joined Blizzard Entertainment as senior manager of EMEA communications. Scarborough’s résumé includes a senior account‑director role at Brands2Life, a stint as head of communications for Inflexion Games, and senior positions at Improbable and Koch Media/Deep Silver. His experience in both agency and in‑house environments equips him to manage Blizzard’s public‑facing messaging 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 art 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. Before this appointment, she acted as publishing operations director at Techland, where she oversaw the coordination of multiple titles from concept through launch. Her background in production pipelines and marketing logistics is expected to strengthen CD Projekt Red’s campaign execution.
Linh Lai secured a full‑time role as accounting assistant at Newzoo after completing a six‑month internship. Lai reflected on the learning curve: "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. 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 has joined Kokoon Games as a senior game programmer.
Virolainen previously served 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 tools to Kokoon’s upcoming rhythm‑game projects. Christopher Holtorf is now senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, after serving as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios. Holtorf’s expertise in crafting branching storylines and immersive quest structures will support the narrative ambitions of Red’s next open‑world release.
Amir Satvat has taken the helm as general manager of 1Up Ventures. Satvat comes from a business‑development director role at Tencent Games and is also the founder of Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), a platform that helps job‑seekers find positions 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 said.
"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 announced his departure from Supercell after a seven‑year tenure.
He joined the company in 2019 as a producer, later advancing to head of game production services and eventually 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 appointed Giles Derrington as director of global affairs for the UK. Derrington previously led public affairs at TikTok in the United Kingdom, where he managed regulatory engagement and media strategy.
Jess Pearce earned a promotion to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive. Pearce entered Kepler as a people advisor in 2022, moved to people partner in 2024, and now oversees talent development and organizational design across the publisher’s growing portfolio.
Shreya Godha was elevated to producer at PlaySimple Games after serving as associate producer. In her new capacity, Godha will oversee end‑to‑end production pipelines for the studio’s casual‑gaming titles.
Epic Games 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, and before that she was marketing lead for media and entertainment at Unity. Earlier in her career she managed studio‑level 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 following the merger of their companies 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 was 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 remarked. "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. 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‑manager role at Undead Labs, giving her a strong foundation in fan engagement and online community building. Emily Rose Chen was promoted to senior product manager for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard.
Chen began her career at the company as a financial analyst in 2020, moved into product management, and now leads the roadmap and feature delivery for the franchise’s flagship titles. Scot McCarron earned a promotion to senior director of product management for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard.
McCarron joined the firm in 2018 as product‑marketing manager for emerging franchises, later overseeing product management for the Call of Duty series and now steering its long‑term product strategy. These movements illustrate the dynamic nature of talent flow within the gaming ecosystem, highlighting how experience across publishing, development, marketing, and community roles continues to shape the industry's future.