Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions and departures across the games sector can be a real challenge, which is why we publish periodic round‑ups that gather the most noteworthy moves in one place. If your organisation has recent staffing changes that you think belong in this list, please forward the name of the individual, their new title and company, as well as 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 has been affiliated with Asmodee for more than ten years, initially joining as a partner before climbing the internal ladder. Prior to his current appointment, 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 streams, and managing the Wizards Play Network. During his tenure at Wizards, he also held 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 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 other news, David Scarborough has joined Blizzard Entertainment as senior manager of EMEA communications.
Scarborough brings a wealth of experience from 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. King has announced that Esther Lopez will return as a principal VFX artist.
Lopez originally joined King in 2014 as a senior artist, earned a promotion to associate principal VFX artist in 2020, and left in 2022 to work for 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 after previously serving as acting publishing operations director at Techland.
Linh Lai has secured a full‑time position as accounting assistant at Newzoo following 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 has joined Kokoon Games as a senior game programmer.
Before this, he worked as a tech programmer at Metacore and held senior programming and development positions at Lightneer. Christopher Holtorf is now senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, having previously served as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios. Amir Satvat has taken the role of general manager at 1Up Ventures. Satvat formerly acted as business development director 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 stint. He joined the firm as a producer in 2019, later becoming 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 has appointed Giles Derrington as director of global affairs for the UK, after previously serving as head of public affairs UK at TikTok.
Jess Pearce has been promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive. Pearce joined Kepler as a people advisor in 2022 and moved to people partner in 2024.
Shreya Godha has advanced to producer at PlaySimple Games, having previously held the associate producer title at the same developer. Epic Games named Kelly Ekins director of communications.
Ekins came from Unity, where she was senior director of global PR for the Games and Made with Unity program. Prior to Unity, she spent time at Warner Brothers Games Montreal as studio lead for game marketing and communications, and joined Unity in 2018 as marketing lead for media and entertainment.
Housemarque co‑founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen is stepping 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," he 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 become community manager for Sega of America. She previously worked as a contract social strategist and community lead at One More Game and held a digital strategy and community manager role at Undead Labs.
Emily Rose Chen has been promoted to senior product manager for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, after starting as a financial analyst in 2020 and later serving as product manager. Scot McCarron has advanced to senior director of product management for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, having joined the company in 2018 as product marketing manager for emerging franchises and later becoming director of product management on the Call of Duty portfolio.
These appointments, promotions and departures illustrate the dynamic nature of talent movement within the interactive entertainment sector, highlighting how experience across publishing, development, finance, communications and community management continues to shape the industry's evolution.