Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions and departures across the games sector can be a challenge, which is why we publish periodic round‑ups of the most noteworthy moves. If you know of a change that belongs in this list—new appointments, internal transitions, or exits—please forward the individual's name, new title, company, and previous role 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 associated with Asmodee for more than ten years, initially joining as a partner before climbing the ranks.
Prior to his current role, he spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast, where his most recent position was vice president of commercial, digital games revenue, and 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 a broad portfolio of products and market initiatives. "I am grateful for my time at Wizards of the Coast and for the colleagues who challenged, taught, and shaped me into the leader I am today," Trunk said. "I have always believed that the most successful enterprises 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. This move feels personal, and it sits at the core of how I intend to lead here." In other news, David Scarborough has taken on the role of senior manager of EMEA communications at Blizzard Entertainment. Scarborough previously held the title of senior account director at Brands2Life and served as head of communications for Inflexion Games.
His résumé also includes senior positions at Improbable and Koch Media/Deep Silver, giving him a broad perspective on both publisher and developer communications strategies. King has announced the return of Esther Lopez 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 then left in 2022 to work at Meta as a real‑time VFX specialist focused on VR‑AR experiences. "Coming back to a place where I know the culture and the people, in a new capacity, is a rare privilege," Lopez explained.
"King is where I grew up as an artist, and many of my best memories were made there, 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 joining CD Projekt Red, Marcinkowska acted as publishing operations director on an interim basis at Techland, where she oversaw the coordination of multiple titles across various platforms. Linh Lai has secured a full‑time position as accounting assistant at Newzoo after completing a six‑month internship.
"The experiences I’ve gained over the past six months have helped me understand not only how individual accounting processes work but also how they fit into the broader business," Lai said. "I’m excited to take on more responsibility, deepen my finance knowledge, improve our accounting efficiency, and contribute more as I grow with Newzoo." Tommi Virolainen has joined 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, bringing extensive experience in engine optimization and cross‑platform development.
Christopher Holtorf is now senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, after serving as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios where he crafted storylines for several high‑profile titles. Amir Satvat has become general manager of 1Up Ventures.
Satvat formerly was business development director at Tencent Games and is also the founder of Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), a platform that assists job seekers in the gaming sector. "I wanted a role where I could see a direct link between my actions and helping people return to work," Satvat explained.
"I love smaller studios and a community‑first environment, and 1Up offers exactly that. My final wish was to work with colleagues who share the same values and integrity I hold.
Joining 1Up feels like all those wishes are coming true." Lasse Seppänen announced his departure from Supercell after a seven‑year stint that began in 2019 as a producer. He progressed to head of game production services and later general manager for Supercell London.
"Now it’s time to follow my passion for creating new game IPs again," Seppänen said. "I’ll stay in the UK and plan to launch my own studio in 2027—more details when the time is right." Take‑Two Interactive named Giles Derrington as director of global affairs for the UK, after he previously led public affairs at TikTok in the same region. Jess Pearce has been promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive. Pearce joined Kepler as a people advisor in 2022 and advanced to people partner in 2024, focusing on talent acquisition and employee development.
Shreya Godha is now a producer at PlaySimple Games, having moved up from associate producer within the same studio. Epic Games appointed Kelly Ekins as director of communications.
Ekins came from Unity, where she served as senior director of global PR for the Games and Made with Unity program. Before Unity, she was marketing lead for media and entertainment at Unity and studio lead for game marketing and communications at Warner Brothers Games Montreal.
Ilari Kuittinen, co‑founder and managing director of Housemarque, stepped down after 31 years. Kuittinen co‑founded Housemarque with Harri Tikkanen in 1995 following the merger of their companies Bloodhouse and Terramarque. "Looking back, I feel immensely fortunate.
We were in the right place at the right time for three decades of industry growth, staying independent for 26 years before joining PlayStation Studios," Kuittinen reflected. He added that the transition was carefully planned, with Sami "Haxu" Hakala assuming the managing director role on July 1 and Kuittinen remaining in an advisory capacity to ensure continuity.
Tamara Feiman has taken the helm as CEO of Lion Studios, the publishing arm of Tripledot Studios. Feiman started at Lion in 2020 as EMEA business development lead and later became publishing general manager.
"I joined Lion six years ago and have grown alongside the company through its biggest successes and challenges. What makes Lion special is our partnership model with studios—taking risks, learning quickly, and turning great ideas into games played by millions. Lion has never been about one person; I’m fortunate to work with an incredible team across publishing, growth, product, engineering, and market intelligence, as well as talented studio partners worldwide," she said. Heather Sangria has joined Sega of America as community manager.
Sangria 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 joining as a financial analyst in 2020 and later moving into product management. 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 became director of product management on the Call of Duty portfolio.