Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures in the video‑game sector can be a 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 names, new titles, companies, as well as previous positions and employers to newhires@gamesindustry.biz.
In this edition, Fandom announced three fresh appointments to its senior leadership roster and also elevated a long‑time veteran to a higher rank. Anita Butler has been named senior vice president of design & user research. Butler arrives from a distinguished career that includes serving as executive vice president of design and research at Nextdoor, a vice‑presidential role overseeing consumer design at Twitter, and a stint as chief design officer at Strava.
Her extensive background in user‑centric design and research is expected to steer Fandom’s product experience toward deeper fan engagement. Damon Sicore joins Fandom as chief technology officer and head of Fandom Labs.
Sicore’s résumé features senior engineering leadership at both Wikipedia and Mozilla, where he directed the teams responsible for core web technologies such as Firefox, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. His expertise in open‑source ecosystems and large‑scale platform engineering should help Fandom expand its technical capabilities and experiment with new services.
Peter Scanlon has been appointed chief marketing officer. Scanlon brings executive experience from stints at Google, Mozilla, and Monks, where he led global brand strategy, performance marketing, and community outreach. At Fandom, he will be tasked with amplifying the company’s reach and translating its massive fan‑generated knowledge base into broader audience growth.
In addition to the new hires, Daniel Grunwell, who has spent 15 years at Fandom, has been promoted to senior vice president of engineering. In his new role Grunwell will oversee the engineering and infrastructure organization, ensuring the platforms that power millions of fan communities remain reliable, scalable, and innovative. "Fandom sits on an extraordinary foundation—tens of millions of enthusiasts who have spent years building knowledge and communities around the things they love," said CEO Jay Sullivan. "Our goal is to build on that foundation and give fans even more ways to connect, discover, and participate.
Daniel’s deep tenure gives him a unique understanding of our roots, while Damon, Peter and Anita bring fresh perspectives and deep consumer‑platform expertise. Together we have the right team to create the next generation of Fandom." Other notable moves across the industry include Jonathan Knight’s appointment as chief games officer at The New York Times. Knight previously served as senior vice president and head of games, where he oversaw the acquisition and integration of the viral puzzle game Wordle. Chase Shi returns to Scopely as vice president and head of game product.
Shi originally left Scopely in 2020 after serving as senior product manager, then spent time as director of product management at Jam City and later at Blizzard Entertainment, where he helped shape the Diablo franchise. Jonathan Marcelino has been named director of product at Scopely. Marcelino previously founded and ran the hybrid‑casual studio Ritmo Games, giving him hands‑on experience in both indie development and studio leadership.
Berkay Özer takes the role of head of studio at Fomo Games. Özer joined Fomo in 2022 as a product specialist and later led the product team before briefly moving to Loom Games as a product manager in 2025. Peter Sydow joins Arrowhead Game Studios as head of production, bringing senior producer experience from Massive Entertainment and PlayerUnknown Productions.
Ryan Ngoon has been promoted to game designer at Blizzard Entertainment after starting as a quest‑design intern in 2023 and advancing to associate game designer in 2024. Sarah Johnson becomes an art producer at Epic Games, adding to her portfolio of producer roles at Bungie, Secret Dimension, Hangar 13, and Telltale Games. Brian Trunk steps into the senior vice president of Route to Market for the Americas at Asmodee. Trunk has been a partner at Asmodee for over a decade and spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast, where he held multiple senior commercial and regional leadership positions.
"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 intersect with my love of games, making this move deeply personal." Rovio promotes Wille Miljas to director of product marketing. Miljas, who joined Rovio in 2024 as a marketing lead, previously headed marketing at Good Shepherd Entertainment and Redhill Games and served as senior marketing manager for planning and strategy at Next Games. Behaviour Interactive names Jameson Durall senior design director on the upcoming title Blight: Survival.
Durall previously worked at Insomniac Games as an advanced senior game designer on Marvel’s Spider‑Man 2. Matt Dobill is promoted to director of applied AI at Epic Games, where he will also act as senior counsel on technology and tools, reflecting Epic’s growing focus on artificial‑intelligence‑driven development pipelines. Joe Gabriel joins Unity as senior technical production manager for AndroidXR. Gabriel formerly led customer and developer success at Niantic Spatial and was senior developer‑relations manager at Niantic.
Erik Meurk has been promoted to senior software engineer at King. Meurk started as a Unity development intern in August 2023, became an associate software engineer in early 2024, and now leads key engineering initiatives for King’s mobile titles. Stéfanie Grandchamp‑Dubé advances to lead UX designer at Epic Games after joining in 2023 as a senior UX designer, following a prior UX role at Behaviour Interactive. Jack Anderson becomes a VFX artist at Rebellion, after similar positions at nDreams and Interior/Night.
David Scarborough joins Blizzard Entertainment as senior manager of EMEA communications, bringing experience from senior account director roles at Brands2Life and head of communications at Inflexion Games, as well as senior positions at Improbable and Koch Media/Deep Silver. King appoints Esther Lopez as principal VFX artist. Lopez, a long‑time King employee since 2014, previously progressed from senior artist to associate principal VFX artist before a two‑year stint at Meta working on real‑time VR‑AR visual effects.
"Returning to a place I know well, in a new role, is a rare privilege," Lopez said. "King is where I grew up as an artist, and I hope to bring back the immersive expertise I gained at Meta." Magda Marcinkowska becomes production manager in marketing at CD Projekt Red after serving as acting publishing operations director at Techland. Linh Lai is hired as accounting assistant at Newzoo following a six‑month internship, noting that the experience helped her understand how individual accounting processes tie into broader business operations.
Tommi Virolainen joins Kokoon Games as senior game programmer, after previous tech programming work at Metacore and senior programming roles at Lightneer. Christopher Holtorf is appointed senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, having previously worked as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios.
Amir Satvat becomes a general partner at 1Up Ventures. Satvat previously directed business development at Tencent Games and founded the community‑focused initiative Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), which helps job seekers enter the industry. "I wanted a role where I could directly influence people’s ability to get back to work and see their game‑making dreams realized," Satvat explained. "Joining 1Up lets me work with colleagues who share my values and support smaller studios, which I’m passionate about." Lasse Seppänen announces his departure from Supercell after seven years, during which he progressed from producer in 2019 to head of game production services and general manager for Supercell London.
He says he plans to launch his own studio in the UK in 2027. Take‑Two Interactive names Giles Derrington director of global affairs UK; Derrington previously headed public affairs for TikTok in the United Kingdom. Jess Pearce is promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive, having joined as a people advisor in 2022 and moved to people partner in 2024.
Shreya Godha advances to producer at PlaySimple Games after serving as associate producer. Epic Games appoints Kelly Ekins as 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 led marketing for media and entertainment at Unity following a stint at Warner Brothers Games Montreal. Housemarque co‑founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen steps down after 31 years.
Kuittinen co‑founded the studio in 1995 after merging Bloodhouse and Terramarque, and oversaw its independent run for 26 years before the studio joined PlayStation Studios. He notes that Sami “Haxu” Hakala has taken over as managing director, ensuring continuity. Tamara Feiman is appointed CEO of Lion Studios, the publishing arm of Tripledot Studios.
Feiman started at Lion in 2020 as EMEA business development lead, later becoming publishing general manager. She emphasizes the collaborative nature of Lion’s partnership model with external studios.
Heather Sangria joins Sega of America as community manager after contract work as a social strategist at One More Game and a digital strategy/community role at Undead Labs. Emily Rose Chen is promoted to senior product manager for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, having risen from product manager after joining as a financial analyst in 2020. Scot McCarron moves up to senior director of product management for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, after serving as director of product management on the franchise and initially joining as product marketing manager for emerging titles in 2018.
These appointments, promotions, and departures illustrate the dynamic nature of talent movement across the gaming ecosystem, highlighting how companies are continually reshaping leadership to meet evolving market demands and to foster innovation within their teams.