Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures across the games sector can be a real challenge. That’s why we put together periodic round‑ups that capture the most noteworthy moves. If you know of a change that belongs in this list—whether it’s a new appointment, a transition, or a departure—please forward the individual's name, new title, company, and previous position 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 a long‑time partner of the Asmodee family, contributing over ten years of service. Before 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.
During his tenure at Wizards, he also held multiple 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 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 previously served as 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 media strategy within the interactive entertainment space. 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 specialist focused 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. Prior to this appointment, she acted as publishing operations director at Techland, where she oversaw the coordination of multiple title releases and managed cross‑functional teams.
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 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 contributed to several high‑profile mobile titles.
Christopher Holtorf has been appointed senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red. Before this role, he served as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios, crafting storylines and quest arcs for action‑RPG projects.
Amir Satvat has taken on the role of general manager at 1Up Ventures. Satvat formerly was business development director at Tencent Games and is also the founder of Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), an initiative that assists industry professionals in finding new employment. "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." He added, "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 has announced his departure from Supercell after a seven‑year stint.
He joined the company in 2019 as a producer, later assuming 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 has named Giles Derrington as director of global affairs for the UK. Derrington previously led public affairs for TikTok in the UK, where he managed regulatory outreach and strategic communications.
Jess Pearce has been promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive. Pearce joined Kepler in 2022 as a people advisor, moved to people partner in 2024, and now oversees senior talent strategy across the organization. Shreya Godha has advanced to producer at PlaySimple Games after serving as associate producer, where she coordinated cross‑functional pipelines and helped launch several casual titles.
Epic Games has appointed Kelly Ekins as director of communications. Ekins came from Unity, where she was senior director of global PR for the Games and Made with Unity program.
Earlier in her career she worked at Warner Brothers Games Montreal as studio lead for game marketing and communications, and she joined Unity in 2018 as marketing lead for media and entertainment. Ilari Kuittinen, co‑founder and managing director of Housemarque, is stepping down after 31 years.
Kuittinen co‑founded Housemarque with Harri Tikkanen in 1995 after merging their studios 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." He continued, "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. 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 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. Chen started at the company in 2020 as a financial analyst, moved into product management, and now oversees major feature roadmaps for the flagship franchise. 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, later becoming director of product management for Call of Duty before receiving his current promotion. These appointments, promotions, and departures illustrate the dynamic nature of talent movement within the interactive entertainment industry, highlighting both seasoned veterans taking on new challenges and emerging leaders stepping into pivotal roles. The continued flow of expertise helps drive innovation, supports community growth, and ensures that the games we love keep evolving.