Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions and departures in the video‑game sector can be a daunting task, which is why we gather the most noteworthy moves in periodic round‑ups. If you know of any new 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 announced a substantial reshuffle of its senior leadership, introducing three fresh faces to its executive suite while also promoting a long‑time veteran. Anita Butler steps in as senior vice president of design & user research.
Butler brings a rich background, having most recently served as executive vice president of design and research at Nextdoor, and prior to that she held senior design roles at Twitter and was chief design officer at Strava. Damon Sicore joins the company as chief technology officer and head of Fandom Labs. Sicore’s résumé includes senior engineering leadership at both Wikipedia and Mozilla, where he oversaw the teams responsible for core web technologies such as Firefox, HTML, JavaScript and CSS. Peter Scanlon is appointed chief marketing officer, adding to his extensive experience in senior marketing positions 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 supervise the engineering and infrastructure organization, ensuring that the platform’s technical foundation can scale with its massive user base. "Fandom has an incredible foundation – millions of fans who have spent years building knowledge and communities around the things they love," said CEO Jay Sullivan.
"Our opportunity is to build on that and give fans even more ways to connect, discover and participate. Daniel's long tenure at Fandom brings a deep understanding of our roots and what makes our communities special, while Damon, Pete and Anita bring new perspectives and deep consumer and platform expertise.
Together, we have the right team to build the next generation of Fandom." Other notable moves this month 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 at the Times, where he led the acquisition and integration of the viral puzzle Wordle. Chase Shi returns to Scopely as vice president and head of game product after a stint away; Shi originally left Scopely in 2020 as a senior product manager, later directing product at Jam City and then serving as director of product management for Diablo at Blizzard Entertainment. Jonathan Marcelino is named director of product at Scopely, having founded and run the hybrid‑casual studio Ritmo Games.
Berkay Özer takes the helm as head of studio at Fomo Games. Özer joined the firm in 2022 as a product specialist, progressed to lead the product team, and after a brief period at Loom Games as product manager, returns to guide Fomo’s creative direction. Peter Sydow becomes head of production at Arrowhead Game Studios, bringing senior producing experience from Massive Entertainment and PlayerUnknown Productions. Blizzard Entertainment promotes Ryan Ngoon to game designer after he began his tenure as a quest‑design intern in 2023 and advanced to associate game designer the following year.
Epic Games adds Sarah Johnson as an art producer; Johnson’s résumé includes producer roles at Bungie, Secret Dimension, Hangar 13 and Telltale Games. Asmodee appoints Brian Trunk as senior vice president of Route to Market for the Americas. Trunk, a partner at Asmodee for more than a decade, previously spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast in senior commercial and digital‑games leadership positions, overseeing worldwide regions such as EMEA, LATAM and APAC. He reflected, "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.
I've always believed the most successful businesses are built on great people, strong relationships, trust, and community. At Asmodee, those values come together 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." Rovio promotes Wille Miljas to director of product marketing. Miljas, who joined Rovio in 2024 as 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’s prior experience includes an advanced senior game designer role on Marvel’s Spider‑Man 2 at Insomniac Games.
At Epic Games, Matt Dobill moves up to director of applied AI while also acting as senior counsel on technology and tools. Unity welcomes Joe Gabriel as senior technical production manager for AndroidXR. Gabriel previously led customer and developer success at Niantic Spatial and was senior developer relations manager at Niantic.
King promotes Erik Meurk to senior software engineer after he joined as a Unity development intern in August 2023, became an associate software engineer in early 2024, and has since contributed to multiple high‑profile titles. Stéfanie Grandchamp‑Dubé is elevated to lead UX designer at Epic Games, having joined the company in 2023 after a senior UX stint at Behaviour Interactive. Rebellion adds Jack Anderson as a VFX artist; Anderson previously worked in the same capacity at nDreams and Interior/Night.
Blizzard Entertainment brings David Scarborough on board as senior manager of EMEA communications; Scarborough’s background includes senior account director at Brands2Life, head of communications at Inflexion Games, and senior roles at Improbable and Koch Media/Deep Silver. King also appoints Esther Lopez as principal VFX artist.
Lopez originally joined King in 2014 as a senior artist, rose to associate principal VFX artist in 2020, spent two years at Meta developing real‑time VFX for VR/AR, and now returns to her roots, stating, "Coming back to somewhere I know well, in a new role, is a rare kind of privilege. 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." CD Projekt Red names Magda Marcinkowska production manager in marketing; she previously acted as publishing operations director at Techland.
Newzoo hires Linh Lai as accounting assistant after a six‑month internship, with Lai noting the broader business insight she gained and her eagerness to deepen her finance expertise. Kokoon Games adds Tommi Virolainen as senior game programmer; Virolainen’s earlier roles include tech programmer at Metacore and senior programming positions at Lightneer. CD Projekt Red also appoints Christopher Holtorf senior quest designer, formerly senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios.
Venture capital sees Amir Satvat join 1Up Ventures as a general partner. Satvat previously directed business development at Tencent Games and founded the community‑focused initiative Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC). He explained his motivation: "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. 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. 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." Supercell announces the departure of Lasse Seppänen after seven years.
Seppänen joined as a producer in 2019, later becoming head of game production services and general manager for Supercell London. He says, "Now it's time to follow my passion for creating new game IPs again.
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 names Giles Derrington director of global affairs UK; Derrington previously led public affairs for TikTok in the United Kingdom. Kepler Interactive promotes Jess Pearce to senior people partner after joining as a people advisor in 2022 and advancing to people partner in 2024.
PlaySimple Games elevates Shreya Godha to producer; she had been an associate producer at the studio. Epic Games appoints Kelly Ekins director of communications. Ekins comes from Unity, where she was senior director of global PR for the Games and Made with Unity program, and before that she led marketing for media and entertainment at Unity after 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 following the merger of Bloodhouse and Terramarque. Reflecting on his tenure, he said, "Looking back, I feel immensely fortunate.
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." Tripledot Studios' Lion Studios names Tamara Feiman CEO. Feiman began her career at Lion Studios in 2020 as EMEA business development lead, later becoming publishing general manager.
She remarks, "I joined Lion six years ago. 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." Sega of America brings on Heather Sangria as community manager. Sangria previously acted as a contract social strategist and community lead at One More Game and handled digital strategy and community management at Undead Labs.
Activision Blizzard promotes Emily Rose Chen to senior product manager for Call of Duty, after joining as a financial analyst in 2020 and moving into product management. Scot McCarron also receives a promotion, becoming senior director of product management for Call of Duty; he originally joined Activision in 2018 as product marketing manager for emerging franchises.
These movements illustrate the dynamic nature of talent flow within the gaming ecosystem, highlighting how seasoned leaders, rising stars, and cross‑industry veterans continue to shape the future of interactive entertainment.