Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions and departures across the gaming sector can be a real challenge. That’s why 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 name, new title, new company, and previous 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 trusted partner on a variety of strategic initiatives. Prior to rejoining Asmodee, he spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast, where his most recent responsibilities included overseeing commercial operations, digital‑games revenue streams, and the Wizards Play Network.
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 résumé includes senior account director duties at Brands2Life and a stint as head of communications for Inflexion Games.
He has also held senior roles at Improbable and at Koch Media/Deep Silver, giving him a broad perspective on media strategy across multiple markets. 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 for Meta, where she worked 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 title launches and the alignment of marketing pipelines with development milestones. Linh Lai has secured a full‑time role 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 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, where he helped ship several mobile titles that combined sophisticated AI with live‑ops systems. Christopher Holtorf is now senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, after serving as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios. Holtorf’s expertise lies in crafting branching storylines and integrating player‑driven quest mechanics into open‑world environments.
Amir Satvat has taken on the role of general manager at 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 industry professionals in finding new employment opportunities. "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.
"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 becoming head of game production services and finally 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. Derrington previously led public affairs at TikTok in the United Kingdom, where he managed regulatory engagement and media strategy.
Jess Pearce has been promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive. Pearce started at Kepler in 2022 as a people advisor, moved to people partner in 2024, and now oversees talent development across the studio’s global teams. Shreya Godha earned a promotion to producer at PlaySimple Games after serving as associate producer.
In her new capacity, Godha will shepherd live‑service titles from concept through post‑launch updates. 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, following a stint as studio lead for game marketing and communications at Warner Brothers Games Montreal. Housemarque co‑founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen has stepped down after 31 years.
Kuittinen co‑founded the studio in 1995 alongside Harri Tikkanen after merging 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 chief executive officer 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 become community manager for Sega of America. Previously she 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.
Chen originally joined the company in 2020 as a financial analyst, later moving into product management before earning the senior title. Scot McCarron has advanced to senior director of product management for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard. McCarron first arrived at Activision in 2018 as product marketing manager for emerging franchises, then progressed to director of product management before receiving his latest promotion.
These appointments, promotions and departures illustrate the dynamic nature of talent movement within the interactive entertainment industry, where experience across multiple regions, platforms and business functions continues to shape the future of games worldwide.