Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures in the games sector can be a real challenge, which is why we gather the most noteworthy moves into periodic round‑ups. If you know of any recent appointments or role changes that belong in this list, please forward the name, new title, company, and previous position to newhires@gamesindustry.biz. Fandom has bolstered its senior management roster with three fresh executives and has also elevated a long‑time veteran. Anita Butler is now senior vice president of design & user research.
Butler arrives from Nextdoor, where she was EVP of design and research, and she previously held senior consumer‑design roles at Twitter and served as chief design officer at Strava. Damon Sicore joins as chief technology officer and head of Fandom Labs; his résumé includes senior engineering leadership at both Wikipedia and Mozilla, where he oversaw the teams responsible for Firefox, HTML, JavaScript and CSS. Peter Scanlon steps in as chief marketing officer, bringing executive experience from stints at Google, Mozilla and Monks.
In parallel, Daniel Grunwell, a fifteen‑year Fandom veteran, has been promoted to senior vice president of engineering. In his new capacity he will direct the engineering and infrastructure organization, ensuring the platform scales to meet the needs of millions of fan communities.
"Fandom rests on an extraordinary foundation – countless fans who have spent years building knowledge and communities around the things they love," said CEO Jay Sullivan. "Our mission is to expand on that legacy, giving fans even more ways to connect, discover and participate. Daniel's deep tenure gives him an intimate understanding of our roots, while Damon, Peter and Anita bring fresh perspectives and deep consumer‑platform expertise. Together we have the right team to build the next generation of Fandom." Other notable moves 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 led the acquisition and integration of the wildly popular Wordle. Chase Shi returns to Scopely as vice president and head of game product after a five‑year hiatus; Shi originally left Scopely in 2020 as a senior product manager, then spent time as director of product management at Jam City and later at Blizzard Entertainment, where he worked on Diablo. Jonathan Marcelino has been named director of product at Scopely, after founding and serving as CEO of the hybrid‑casual studio Ritmo Games. Berkay Özer becomes head of studio at Fomo Games; Özer joined the company in 2022 as a product specialist, left in 2025 for Loom Games, and now returns to lead the studio.
Peter Sydow joins Arrowhead Game Studios as head of production, bringing senior‑producer experience from Massive Entertainment and PlayerUnknown Productions. Ryan Ngoon is promoted to game designer at Blizzard Entertainment after joining as a quest‑design intern in 2023 and advancing to associate game designer in 2024. Sarah Johnson takes on the role of art producer at Epic Games, after previous producer positions at Bungie, Secret Dimension, Hangar 13 and Telltale Games. Brian Trunk is appointed senior vice president of Route to Market for the Americas at Asmodee.
Trunk, a partner at Asmodee for over a decade, spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast in senior commercial and regional leadership roles. "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 align 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 adds Jameson Durall as senior design director on Blight: Survival; Durall previously worked at Insomniac Games on Marvel’s Spider‑Man 2. Matt Dobill is promoted to director of applied AI at Epic Games and also serves as senior counsel on technology and tools.
Unity welcomes Joe Gabriel 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. King promotes Erik Meurk to senior software engineer.
Meurk started as a Unity development intern in August 2023, became an associate software engineer in early 2024, and has since grown within the company. Stéfanie Grandchamp‑Dubé advances to lead UX designer at Epic Games after joining as a senior UX designer in 2023, following a similar role at Behaviour Interactive. Jack Anderson joins Rebellion as a VFX artist, after previous VFX work at nDreams and Interior/Night. David Scarborough becomes senior manager of EMEA communications at Blizzard Entertainment, having previously held senior account and communications roles at Brands2Life, Inflexion Games, Improbable and Koch Media/Deep Silver.
King also appoints Esther Lopez as principal VFX artist. Lopez, a longtime King veteran who left for Meta in 2022, returns eager to bring immersive VR‑AR experience back to the company. Magda Marcinkowska is named production manager in marketing at CD Projekt Red, after serving as acting publishing operations director at Techland. Linh Lai becomes accounting assistant at Newzoo following a six‑month internship, expressing enthusiasm for deeper involvement in finance processes.
Tommi Virolainen joins Kokoon Games as senior game programmer, after senior programming roles at Lightneer and a tech‑programmer stint at Metacore. Christopher Holtorf is appointed senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, previously senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios.
Amir Satvat joins 1Up Ventures as a general partner. Satvat, formerly business‑development director at Tencent Games, also founded the community resource Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC) to help job seekers in the industry.
He emphasized his desire to connect directly with teams and support smaller studios. Lasse Seppänen announces his departure from Supercell after seven years, citing a desire to return to creating new IPs and plans to launch his own studio in the UK in 2027.
Take‑Two Interactive names Giles Derrington director of global affairs UK, after heading public affairs at TikTok. Jess Pearce is promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive, having joined as a people advisor in 2022. Shreya Godha moves up to producer at PlaySimple Games, after serving as associate producer.
Epic Games appoints Kelly Ekins as director of communications; Ekins previously held senior global PR leadership at Unity and marketing roles at Warner Brothers Games Montreal. Housemarque co‑founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen steps down after 31 years, passing the reins to Sami "Haxu" Hakala. Kuittinen reflected on the studio’s independent legacy and smooth transition.
Tamara Feiman becomes CEO of Lion Studios (Tripledot Studios), after rising from EMEA business‑development lead in 2020 to publishing general manager. She highlighted the collaborative culture that has turned ideas into games played by millions. Heather Sangria joins Sega of America as community manager, after contract social‑strategy work at One More Game and community management at Undead Labs.
Emily Rose Chen is promoted to senior product manager for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, having progressed from financial analyst to product manager since 2020. Finally, Scot McCarron is elevated to senior director of product management for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, after serving as director of product management and joining the company in 2018 as a product‑marketing manager for emerging franchises.