Keeping up with the constant flow of hires, promotions, and departures across the gaming sector can be a daunting task, which is why we regularly publish concise round‑ups of notable personnel moves. If your organization has recent appointments or transitions that belong in this list, please forward the individual's name, new title, new company, as well as their previous role and employer to newhires@gamesindustry.biz.
Natalie Francis has been selected to serve as studio manager for Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment, with her tenure beginning on 1 October 2026. Francis brings a wealth of experience, having most recently held the chief development officer position at Avalanche Studios. Earlier in her career she oversaw studio operations and development at DICE and acted as studio operations director for Electronic Arts. "Massive Entertainment boasts an extraordinary legacy, built by exceptionally talented people and a culture that deeply values craftsmanship and quality," Francis said.
"I look forward to building on that foundation and creating the conditions that allow the studio and its staff to flourish in the next phase of our journey." Christoph Hartmann, General Manager of Creative House 2, added: "Natalie's extensive background in uniting multidisciplinary teams around a clear creative and business vision makes her perfectly suited to guide Massive into its next chapter. Her proven ability to deliver ambitious player experiences while aligning long‑term strategy with operational excellence provides a solid platform for the studio and its talented crews moving forward." Allie Murdock has been promoted to senior manager of game production at Riot Games. Murdock previously served as the game production manager for Valorant and, before joining Riot, was production director at Red Lens Games.
Kristen Quinn has taken on the role of lead sound designer at Gearbox Entertainment. Quinn's prior experience includes stints as audio director, contractor, and consultant at Bonfire Studios, as well as an audio director position at Polyarc.
Benjamin Liu joins Insomniac Games as lead VFX artist after serving as principal VFX artist (acting VFX director) at Lightspeed LA. Fandom announced three new members for its executive leadership team alongside the promotion of a long‑time veteran.
Anita Butler has been appointed senior vice president of design & user research. Butler previously held the EVP of design and research role at Nextdoor, was VP of consumer design at Twitter, and served as chief design officer at Strava. Damon Sicore arrives at Fandom as chief technology officer and head of Fandom Labs, bringing leadership experience from Wikipedia and Mozilla, where he oversaw the engineering groups responsible for Firefox, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
Peter Scanlon has been named chief marketing officer, adding executive marketing experience from Google, Mozilla, and Monks. Daniel Grunwell has been elevated to senior vice president of engineering, where he will oversee Fandom's engineering and infrastructure teams. "Fandom rests on an incredible foundation—millions of fans who have spent years building knowledge and communities around the things they love," said CEO Jay Sullivan. "Our mission is to expand that foundation, giving fans even more ways to connect, discover, and participate.
Daniel's deep tenure at Fandom provides a thorough understanding of our roots, while Damon, Pete, and Anita bring fresh perspectives and deep consumer and platform expertise. Together, we have the right team to build the next generation of Fandom." Jonathan Knight has been appointed 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 Wordle. Chase Shi returns to Scopely as vice president and head of game product. Shi originally left Scopely in 2020 as senior product manager, then served as director of product management at Jam City before moving to Blizzard Entertainment, where he directed product management for 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 assumes 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 departing in 2025 to become product manager at Loom Games. 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. Ngoon began at Blizzard in 2023 as a quest design intern and progressed to associate game designer in 2024. Sarah Johnson becomes an art producer at Epic Games after holding 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, most recently as vice president of commercial, digital games revenue, and the Wizards Play Network. He also held senior leadership positions covering EMEA, LATAM, and APAC.
"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 a shared love of games, making this move deeply personal and central to how I intend to lead." Rovio has promoted Wille Miljas to director of product marketing. Miljas previously served as central marketing director after joining Rovio in 2024 as marketing lead. His earlier roles include head of marketing at Good Shepherd Entertainment and Redhill Games, and senior marketing manager for planning and strategy at Next Games. Behaviour Interactive named Jameson Durall senior design director on 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 began as a Unity development intern in August 2023, became an associate software engineer in February 2024, and has progressed steadily since. 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 joins 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.
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 appoints Esther Lopez as principal VFX artist. Lopez first joined King in 2014 as a senior artist, advanced to associate principal VFX artist in 2020, then spent two years at Meta as a real‑time VFX art specialist for VR‑AR before returning. "Returning to a familiar environment in a new role is a rare privilege," Lopez remarked.
"King is where I grew up as an artist, and many of my best memories were made there, making this opportunity especially meaningful. After nearly four years at Meta building immersive experiences, I hope to bring that expertise back with me." Magda Marcinkowska has been appointed 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. "The experience I gained over the past six months helped me understand not only individual accounting processes but also how they fit into the broader business," Lai said. "I’m excited to take on more responsibility, deepen my finance knowledge, improve our accounting efficiency, and contribute further as I grow with Newzoo." Tommi Virolainen joins Kokoon Games as senior game programmer. Virolainen previously worked as a tech programmer at Metacore and held senior programming and development roles at Lightneer.
Christopher Holtorf has been named senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, after serving as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios. Amir Satvat joins 1Up Ventures as a general partner. Satvat previously was business development director at Tencent Games and founded Always Supporting the Games Community (ASGC), a resource that helps people find jobs in the industry. "I wanted a more direct connection between what I could influence and helping people return to work," Satvat explained.
"I hoped to see more individuals achieve their dream of making games because of something I did, and to work in a setting focused on smaller studios, which I love. I also wanted to collaborate with colleagues who share my values and integrity. Joining 1Up fulfills all of those wishes." He added, "1Up is a crucial player in the games ecosystem, and I want its unique investment approach to endure as long as possible." Lasse Seppänen announced his departure from Supercell after seven years.
He joined as a producer in 2019, later becoming head of game production services and general manager for Supercell London. "Now it’s time to return to my passion for creating new game IPs," Seppänen said. "I’ll stay in the UK and plan to launch my own studio in 2027 – more details when the time is right." Take‑Two Interactive appointed Giles Derrington as director of global affairs UK.
Derrington previously led public affairs for TikTok in the United Kingdom. Jess Pearce has been promoted to senior people partner at Kepler Interactive, after joining as a people advisor in 2022 and moving to people partner in 2024. Shreya Godha was elevated to producer at PlaySimple Games, having previously served as associate producer at the same studio. 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 before that she was marketing lead for media and entertainment at Unity after a stint as studio lead for game marketing and communications at Warner Brothers Games Montreal. Housemarque co‑founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen stepped down after 31 years. Kuittinen co‑founded Housemarque in 1995 with Harri Tikkanen, merging their companies Bloodhouse and Terramarque.
"Looking back, I feel immensely fortunate," Kuittinen reflected. "We were in the right place at the right time for three decades of industry growth, allowing us to stay fiercely independent for 26 years before joining PlayStation Studios. We planned this leadership transition carefully. On 1 July, Sami ‘Haxu’ Hakala officially took over as managing director, and I have continued supporting him and the leadership team to ensure operational continuity and stability.
Housemarque’s strategy and creative vision are in excellent hands." Tamara Feiman has been named CEO of Tripledot Studios' Lion Studios. Feiman started at Lion Studios in 2020 as EMEA business development lead and later became publishing general manager.
"I joined Lion six years ago and have grown alongside the company through its biggest successes, challenges, and transformations," Feiman said. "What makes Lion special is how we work with partner studios – we take risks, learn quickly, and turn great ideas into games played by millions. Lion has never been about one person; I’m fortunate to work with an incredible team across publishing, growth, product, engineering, and market intelligence, as well as talented studio partners worldwide." Heather Sangria has joined Sega of America as community manager, after contract work as a social strategist and community lead at One More Game and a digital strategy and community role at Undead Labs. Emily Rose Chen has been 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 elevated to senior director of product management for Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, after serving as director of product management on the franchise and joining the company in 2018 as product marketing manager for emerging franchises.