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 professionals and enthusiasts alike, we publish periodic round‑ups that capture the most noteworthy personnel movements.
If you know of any significant changes at your organization—new appointments, role shifts, or exits—please forward the details (name, new position, company, and previous role) to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. Brian Trunk has been elevated to Senior Vice President of Route to Market for the Americas at Asmodee. Trunk brings more than a decade of partnership experience with Asmodee, having served as a trusted advisor and collaborator throughout that period.
Prior to re‑joining Asmodee, 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 held a series of senior leadership positions, 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 other news, David Scarborough has joined Blizzard Entertainment as Senior Manager of EMEA Communications. Scarborough’s background includes a stint as Senior Account Director at Brands2Life and a role as Head of Communications at Inflexion Games.
He has also held senior communications positions at Improbible and at Koch Media/Deep Silver, giving him a broad perspective on media strategy across multiple market segments. 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 appointed Production Manager in Marketing at CD Projekt Red. Before this role, she served as Acting Publishing Operations Director at Techland, where she oversaw cross‑functional publishing pipelines and helped streamline release schedules for several high‑profile 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 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’s prior experience includes a tech programming role at Metacore and senior programming and development positions at Lightneer, where he contributed to several successful mobile and console projects.
Christopher Holtorf has been named Senior Quest Designer at CD Projekt Red. He previously worked as Senior Narrative Designer at Intrepid Studios, crafting storylines and quest structures for narrative‑driven games. Amir Satvat steps into the role of General Manager at 1Up Ventures. Satvat formerly served as Business Development Director at Tencent Games and is also the founder and leader of Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), an initiative that helps job seekers find opportunities within the games 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 taking on senior responsibilities such as 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 appointed Giles Derrington as Director of Global Affairs UK. Derrington previously led Public Affairs for the UK at TikTok, where he managed regulatory and government relations for the platform’s rapid growth. Jess Pearce earned a promotion to Senior People Partner at Kepler Interactive. Pearce entered Kepler in 2022 as a People Advisor, progressed to People Partner in 2024, and now oversees senior talent strategies across the company’s global studios.
Shreya Godha has been promoted to Producer at PlaySimple Games after serving as Associate Producer. In her new capacity she will lead cross‑functional teams to deliver casual mobile titles that align with PlaySimple’s data‑driven design philosophy.
Epic Games named Kelly Ekins as Director of Communications. Ekins previously held the position of Senior Director of Global PR 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. Housemarque co‑founder and Managing Director Ilari Kuittinen 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," 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. 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 joined Sega of America as Community Manager.
Previously, she worked as a contract Social Strategist and Community Lead at One More Game and held a digital strategy and community management role at Undead Labs. Emily Rose Chen was promoted to Senior Product Manager for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard. Chen started at the company in 2020 as a Financial Analyst, moved into product management, and has now taken on senior responsibility for one of the franchise’s flagship titles. Scot McCarron received a promotion 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 served as Director of Product Management on Call of Duty before assuming his new senior director role. These announcements illustrate the dynamic nature of talent movement within the gaming ecosystem, highlighting how experience across different regions, platforms, and company sizes continues to shape the industry’s future.