Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures in the games sector can be a real challenge, which is why we put together periodic round‑ups to capture the most notable moves. If your organization has recent staffing changes that belong in this list, please forward the names, new titles, companies, as well as the previous roles and employers to newhires@gamesindustry.biz.
In this edition, Fandom announced three senior appointments to its executive leadership roster and also elevated a long‑time employee to a higher rank. Anita Butler has been named senior vice president of design & user research.
Butler arrives with a robust background, having previously served as EVP of design and research at Nextdoor, as vice‑president of consumer design at Twitter, and as chief design officer at Strava. Her extensive experience in consumer‑focused design and research is expected to shape Fandom’s user‑experience strategy moving forward. Damon Sicore joins Fandom as chief technology officer and head of Fandom Labs. Sicore’s résumé includes senior engineering leadership positions at both Wikipedia and Mozilla, where he oversaw the teams responsible for core web technologies such as Firefox, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
His deep technical expertise and track record of open‑source innovation should bolster Fandom’s platform capabilities. Peter Scanlon has been appointed chief marketing officer. Scanlon brings executive experience from stints at Google, Mozilla and Monks, where he led large‑scale marketing initiatives and brand‑building programs. At Fandom, he will be tasked with expanding the company’s reach and deepening engagement with its massive fan communities.
In addition, Daniel Grunwell, a 15‑year veteran of the firm, has been promoted to senior vice president of engineering. In his new role Grunwell will supervise the engineering and infrastructure teams, ensuring that the technical foundation remains robust as the company scales.
"Fandom rests on an extraordinary foundation – millions of fans who have spent years curating knowledge and building communities around the subjects they love," said CEO Jay Sullivan. "Our goal is to build on that base and give fans even more ways to connect, discover and participate. Daniel’s long tenure gives him a deep 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 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 viral puzzle 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 worked on Diablo. Jonathan Marcelino has been named director of product at Scopely after founding and running 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 and later led the product team before a brief stint at Loom Games as 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 joining as a quest‑design intern in 2023 and moving up to associate game designer in 2024.
Sarah Johnson is now an art producer at Epic Games, after previous producer roles at Bungie, Secret Dimension, Hangar 13 and Telltale Games. Brian Trunk has been appointed senior vice president of Route to Market for the Americas at Asmodee.
Trunk, a partner at Asmodee for over a decade, previously spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast in 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 combine with a shared love of games, making this move feel personal and central to how I want to lead here." Rovio promoted 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 named 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 has been elevated to director of applied AI at Epic Games, where he also serves as senior counsel on technology and tools. Joe Gabriel joins Unity 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.
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 has since contributed to several of King’s flagship titles. Stéfanie Grandchamp‑Dubé is now lead UX designer at Epic Games after joining the company in 2023 as a senior UX designer, following a similar role at Behaviour Interactive. Jack Anderson has joined Rebellion as a VFX artist, having previously held the same position at nDreams and Interior/Night.
David Scarborough becomes senior manager of EMEA communications at Blizzard Entertainment. He previously worked as senior account director at Brands2Life and head of communications at Inflexion Games, with additional senior roles at Improbable and Koch Media/Deep Silver.
King appointed Esther Lopez as principal VFX artist. Lopez first joined King in 2014 as a senior artist, rose to associate principal VFX artist in 2020, left for Meta in 2022 to focus on real‑time VR/AR VFX, and now returns to King, describing the move as a rare privilege.
Magda Marcinkowska has been named production manager in marketing at CD Projekt Red after serving as acting publishing operations director at Techland. Linh Lai secured a full‑time accounting assistant role at Newzoo after completing a six‑month internship, noting how the experience gave her insight into both granular accounting tasks and their broader business impact. Tommi Virolainen joins Kokoon Games as senior game programmer, bringing prior experience as a tech programmer at Metacore and senior programming roles at Lightneer. Christopher Holtorf has been appointed senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, after serving as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios.
Amir Satvat becomes a general partner at 1Up Ventures, having previously been business development director at Tencent Games and founder of the community‑focused initiative Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC). He emphasized his desire to help people return to work in the industry and to support smaller studios. Lasse Seppänen announced his departure from Supercell after seven years, during which he progressed from producer to head of game production services and general manager for Supercell London. He plans to launch a new studio in the UK in 2027.
Take‑Two Interactive appointed Giles Derrington as director of global affairs UK, after serving as head of public affairs UK at TikTok. Jess Pearce was promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive, having joined as a people advisor in 2022 and moving up to people partner in 2024.
Shreya Godha has been promoted to producer at PlaySimple Games, after previously working as an associate producer. 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 earlier worked at Warner Brothers Games Montreal as studio lead for marketing and communications. Housemarque co‑founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen stepped down after 31 years.
Kuittinen co‑founded the studio in 1995 following the merger of Bloodhouse and Terramarque, and praised the company’s independent journey before its integration into PlayStation Studios. Sami “Haxu” Hakala has taken over as managing director.
Tamara Feiman has been 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, and highlighted the collaborative culture that drives the studio’s success.
Heather Sangria joins Sega of America as community manager after contract work as a social strategist at One More Game and a digital strategy role at Undead Labs. Emily Rose Chen was promoted to senior product manager for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, after joining as a financial analyst in 2020 and later moving into product management. Scot McCarron has been promoted to senior director of product management for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, after serving as director of product management on the franchise and originally joining the company in 2018 as a product marketing manager for emerging franchises. These movements reflect the ongoing dynamism of the gaming industry, where talent frequently shifts between leading studios, bringing fresh ideas and seasoned expertise to new challenges.