Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions and departures in 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 organization has recent staffing changes that belong in this list, please forward the name, new title, company, and previous position to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. Brian Trunk has been elevated 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 corporate 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, digital‑games revenue, and overseeing the Wizards Play Network. During his tenure 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.
"I am deeply grateful for my time at Wizards of the Coast and for the mentors, colleagues and teammates who challenged and taught me, shaping the leader I am today," Trunk said. "I have always believed that the strongest companies are built on great people, solid relationships, trust and a sense of community. At Asmodee, those principles intersect with something I care about passionately: a shared love of games. That makes this transition feel personal, and it informs the way I intend to lead here." In other news, David Scarborough has joined Blizzard Entertainment as senior manager of EMEA communications.
Before moving to Blizzard, Scarborough was senior account director at Brands2Life and headed communications at Inflexion Games. His résumé also includes senior roles at Improbable and at Koch Media/Deep Silver, giving him a broad perspective on brand storytelling across multiple platforms. King has announced the return of Esther Lopez as a 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 specialist focused on VR‑AR experiences.
"Returning to a place where I know the culture and the people, and doing so 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, which makes this opportunity especially meaningful.
After nearly four years at Meta building immersive experiences, I hope to bring the best of that knowledge back with me." Magda Marcinkowska has been named production manager in marketing at CD Projekt Red. Marcinkowska previously acted as publishing operations director at Techland, where she oversaw cross‑functional pipelines that linked development, localization and distribution.
Linh Lai has secured a full‑time role as accounting assistant at Newzoo after completing a six‑month internship. "The experience I gained over the past half‑year helped me see how individual accounting tasks fit into the larger financial ecosystem of the company," Lai remarked. "I am eager to take on more responsibility, deepen my finance expertise, improve process efficiency and contribute more to the team 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 positions at Lightneer, where he helped ship several successful mobile titles.
Christopher Holtorf is now senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, after serving as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios, where he crafted story arcs for multiple live‑service games. Amir Satvat has taken the helm as general manager of 1Up Ventures. Satvat came from Tencent Games, where he was business development director, and he also founded Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), a platform that assists job seekers in the industry. "I wanted a role where my actions directly helped people get back to work and realize their dreams of making games," Satvat said.
"Working with smaller studios is a passion of mine, and I wanted a community‑first environment. Joining 1Up aligns perfectly with those values, and I hope the firm’s unique investment approach continues to thrive for years to come." Lasse Seppänen announced his exit from Supercell after seven years of service. He joined Supercell in 2019 as a producer and later served as head of game production services and general manager for Supercell London.
"Now it’s time to return to my passion for creating new IPs," Seppänen explained. "I’ll stay in the UK and plan to launch my own studio in 2027; more details will follow when the time is right." Take‑Two Interactive appointed Giles Derrington as director of global affairs UK. Derrington previously led public affairs for TikTok in the United Kingdom.
Jess Pearce earned a promotion to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive, after joining the firm as a people advisor in 2022 and moving to people partner in 2024. Shreya Godha has been promoted to producer at PlaySimple Games, having previously served as associate producer for the 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 she began her career at Unity in 2018 as marketing lead for media and entertainment. Housemarque co‑founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen stepped down after 31 years at the studio. Kuittinen co‑founded Housemarque with Harri Tikkanen in 1995 after merging their companies Bloodhouse and Terramarque. "Looking back, I feel immensely fortunate," Kuittinen reflected.
"We were in the right place at the right time for three decades of industry growth, staying fiercely independent for 26 years before joining PlayStation Studios. We have planned this leadership transition carefully.
On July 1, Sami ‘Haxu’ Hakala officially assumed the managing director role, and I have continued to support him and the leadership team to ensure operational continuity. Housemarque’s strategy and creative vision are in excellent hands." Tamara Feiman has been appointed 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 watched the company navigate massive successes, challenges and transformations," Feiman said. "What makes Lion special is our collaborative approach with partner studios.
Together we take risks, learn quickly and turn great ideas into games played by millions. Lion is never about a single 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." 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 the company as a financial analyst in 2020 and later serving as product manager. Scot McCarron has been elevated 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 Call of Duty.
These appointments, promotions and departures illustrate the dynamic nature of talent movement within the gaming ecosystem, highlighting how experience across different regions, platforms and business functions continues to shape the industry's future.