It may be tough retaining monitor of the varied comings and goings within the video games business, which is why we compile them in semi-regular round-ups.
When you’ve got new appointments or transitions in your organization that belong right here, please ship the names of appointees, new function and firm, and prior function and firm to newhires@gamesindustry.biz.
Fandom expands executive leadership team
Fandom has introduced three new hires to its executive leadership team, alongside the promotion of a 15-year veteran.
Anita Butler has been appointed senior vp, design & person analysis. Butler beforehand served as EVP of design and analysis at Nextdoor, and was VP of shopper design at Twitter and chief design officer at Strava.
Damon Sicore joins Fandom as chief expertise officer and head of Fandom Labs. Sicore held leadership roles at Wikipedia and Mozilla. He led the engineering organisation behind Firefox, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
Peter Scanlon has been appointed chief advertising officer. Scanlon has executive leadership expertise from Google, Mozilla, and Monks.
Daniel Grunwell has been promoted to senior vp of engineering, and can oversee Fandom’s engineering and infrastructure team.
“Fandom has an unbelievable basis – hundreds of thousands of followers who’ve spent years constructing data and communities across the issues they love,” stated Fandom CEO Jay Sullivan.
“Our alternative is to construct on that and provides followers much more methods to attach, uncover and take part. Daniel’s lengthy tenure at Fandom brings a deep understanding of our roots and what makes our communities particular, whereas Damon, Pete and Anita deliver new views and deep shopper and platform experience. Collectively, we’ve got the proper team to construct the subsequent technology of Fandom.”
The New York Occasions expands Jonathan Knight’s function to chief video games officer
Jonathan Knight has been appointed chief video games officer at The New York Occasions. Knight beforehand served as SVP, head of video games and led the acquisition and integration of Wordle.
Chase Shi returns to Scopely as VP, head of sport product
Chase Shi has returned to Scopely as VP, head of sport product.
Shi left Scopely in 2020 as senior product supervisor. He was then director of product administration at Jam Metropolis, earlier than shifting to Blizzard Leisure the place he labored as director of product administration on Diablo.
Jonathan Marcelino | Director of product – Monopoly Go, Scopely
Jonathan Marcelino has been appointed director of product at Scopely. Marcelino beforehand served as founder and CEO of hybrid-casual sport studio Ritmo Video games.
Berkay Özer | Head of studio, Fomo Video games
Berkay Özer has been appointed head of studio at Fomo Video games. Özer joined Fomo Video games in 2022, serving as product specialist and product team lead. He left in 2025 to hitch Loom Video games as product supervisor.
Peter Sydow joins Arrowhead Sport Studios as head of manufacturing
Peter Sydow has joined Arrowhead Sport Studios as head of manufacturing. Sydow labored at Huge Leisure and PlayerUnknown Productions as a senior producer.
Ryan Ngoon | Sport designer, Blizzard Leisure
Ryan Ngoon has been promoted to sport designer at Blizzard Leisure. Ngoon joined Blizzard in 2023 as a quest designer on an internship, earlier than turning into an affiliate sport designer in 2024.
Sarah Johnson | Producer, Epic Video games
Sarah Johnson has been appointed as an artwork producer at Epic Video games. Johnson beforehand labored at Bungie, Secret Dimension, Hangar 13, and Telltale Video games in producer roles.
Asmodee appoints Brian Trunk as senior vp, Path to Marketplace for the Americas
Brian Trunk has been appointed senior vp of Path to Marketplace for the Americas at Asmodee.
Trunk has been a companion at Asmodee for over a decade. Beforehand, he spent 17 years at Wizards of the Coast, most just lately as vp of business, digital video games income, and the Wizards Play Community.
At Wizards of the Coast, Trunk held a number of leadership roles, together with vp and normal supervisor for EMEA, LATAM, and APAC.
“I am grateful for my years at Wizards of the Coast and for the individuals who challenged, taught, and formed me into the chief I’m immediately,” stated Trunk. “I’ve at all times believed essentially the most profitable companies are constructed on nice individuals, robust relationships, belief, and group.
“At Asmodee, these values come along with one thing else I care deeply about: a shared love of video games. That’s why this transfer feels private, and it’s on the coronary heart of how I need to lead right here.”
Wille Miljas promoted to director of product advertising at Rovio
Rovio has promoted Wille Miljas to director of product advertising. Miljas beforehand served as central advertising director, having joined the corporate in 2024 as advertising lead.
Miljas was head of selling at Good Shepherd Leisure and Redhill Video games, and senior advertising supervisor for planning and technique at Subsequent Video games.
Jameson Durall joins Behaviour Interactive as senior design director on Blight: Survival
Behaviour Interactive has appointed Jameson Durall as senior design director on Blight: Survival. Durall beforehand labored at Insomniac Video games as a sophisticated senior sport designer on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Matt Dobill | Director of utilized AI, Epic Video games
Matt Dobill has been promoted to director of utilized AI at Epic Video games. Dobill additionally serves as senior counsel on expertise and instruments.
Joe Gabriel | Senior technical product supervisor, Unity
Joe Gabriel has joined Unity as senior technical manufacturing supervisor for AndroidXR. Gabriel beforehand served as head of buyer and developer success at Niantic Spatial, and was senior developer relations supervisor at Niantic.
Erik Meurk | Senior software program engineer at King
Erik Meurk has been promoted to senior software program engineer at King. Meurk joined King as a Unity developer intern in August 2023, turning into an affiliate software program engineer in February 2024.
Stéfanie Grandchamp-Dubé | Lead UX designer, Epic Video games
Stéfanie Grandchamp-Dubé has been promoted to steer UX designer at Epic Video games. Grandchamp-Dubé joined Epic in 2023 as a senior UX designer, beforehand working at Behaviour Interactive in the identical function.
Jack Anderson | VFX artist, Riot
Jack Anderson has joined Riot as a VFX artist. Anderson beforehand labored in the identical place at nDreams and Inside/Evening.
David Scarborough joins Blizzard Leisure as senior supervisor of EMEA communications
David Scarborough has joined Blizzard Leisure as senior supervisor of EMEA communications.
Scarborough was beforehand senior account director at Brands2Life and head of communications at Inflexion Video games. He additionally held senior positions at Inconceivable and Koch Media/Deep Silver.
Esther Lopez | Principal VFX artist, King
King has appointed Esther Lopez as principal VFX artist.
Lopez joined King in 2014 as a senior artist and was promoted to affiliate principal VFX artist in 2020. In 2022, she left to hitch Meta as a real-time VFX artwork specialist in VR-AR.
“Coming again to someplace I do know properly, in a brand new function, is a uncommon form of privilege,” stated Lopez. “King is the place I grew up as an artist, and the place a few of my greatest recollections had been made, making this chance much more particular.”
“After virtually 4 years at Meta constructing immersive experiences, I hope I can deliver the very best of that again with me.”
Magda Marcinkowska | Advertising and marketing manufacturing supervisor, CD Projekt Pink
Magda Marcinkowska has been appointed manufacturing supervisor in advertising at CD Projekt Pink.
Marcinkowska beforehand served as performing publishing operations director at Techland.
Linh Lai | Accounting assistant, Newzoo
Linh Lai has been appointed accounting assistant at Newzoo after finishing a six-month internship.
“The experiences I’ve gained all through these six months have helped me higher perceive not solely how particular person accounting processes work, but in addition how they connect with the broader enterprise,” stated Lai.
“I’m excited to tackle extra duty, deepen my accounting and finance data, discover extra methods to make our accounting processes much more environment friendly, and contribute extra to the team as I develop with Newzoo.”
Tommi Virolainen | Senior sport programmer, Kokoon Video games
Tommi Virolainen has joined Kokoon Video games as a senior sport programmer.
Virolainen was beforehand a tech programmer at Metacore and held senior sport programming and growth roles at Lightneer.
Christopher Holtorf | Senior quest designer, CD Projekt Pink
Christopher Holtorf has been appointed senior quest designer at CD Projekt Pink.
Holtorf beforehand served as senior narrative designer at Intrepid Studios.
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Amir Satvat joins 1Up Ventures as a normal companion
Amir Satvat has joined 1Up Ventures as normal companion. Satvat beforehand served as enterprise growth director at Tencent Video games.
He’s additionally the founder and chief of All the time Supporting the Video games Neighborhood (ASGC), a useful resource of serving to individuals discover jobs within the video games business.
“I needed to really feel a extra direct connection between the issues I may affect and do with a team and placing individuals again to work,” stated Satvat. “I needed to see extra individuals’s goals of constructing video games come true due to one thing I did. I additionally hoped I may work in a setting centered on smaller studios, as a result of I like video games of that measurement a lot, and in a setting constructed round group first.
“My remaining want was to work with colleagues who share the identical values and integrity I attempt to maintain myself to. In accepting the team’s invitation to hitch 1Up, I’m seeing all of those needs realised.”
He added: “1Up is an important participant within the video games ecosystem, and I need to see its distinctive strategy to video games investing survive for so long as attainable.”
Lasse Seppänen leaves Supercell
Lasse Seppänen has introduced his departure from Supercell after seven years. Seppänen joined the corporate as a producer in 2019, holding a number of senior roles together with head of sport manufacturing companies and normal supervisor for Supercell London.
“Now it is time to comply with my ardour for creating new sport IPs once more,” stated Seppänen. “I am staying within the UK, and in 2027 I am planning to start out my very own studio as soon as once more – extra on that when the time is correct.”
Giles Derrington joins Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive has appointed Giles Derrington as director of worldwide affairs UK. Derrington beforehand labored at TikTok as head of public affairs UK.
Jess Pearce | Senior individuals companion, Kepler Interactive
Jess Pearce has been promoted to senior individuals companion at Kepler Interactive. Pearce joined Kepler as a individuals advisor in 2022, shifting to individuals companion in 2024.
Shreya Godha | Producer, PlaySimple Video games
Shreya Godha has been promoted to producer at PlaySimple Video games. Godha was beforehand affiliate producer on the developer.
Kelly Ekins joins Epic Video games as director of communications
Epic Video games has appointed Kelly Ekins as director of communications. Ekins beforehand labored at Unity as senior director of worldwide PR in its Video games and Made with Unity Program.
Ekins joined Unity in 2018 as advertising lead for media and leisure after her tenure at Warner Brothers Video games Montreal as studio lead for sport advertising and communications.
Housemarque co-founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen steps down
Housemarque co-founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen has stepped down after 31 years on the studio. Kuittinen co-founded Housemarque with Harri Tikkanen in 1995 after merging their corporations Bloodhouse and Terramarque.
“Trying again, I really feel immensely lucky,” stated Kuittinen. “We had the luck of being in the proper place on the proper time throughout three many years of unbelievable business progress, permitting us to remain fiercely unbiased for 26 years earlier than discovering a house throughout the PlayStation Studios household.”
“We’ve got been planning this leadership transition rigorously behind the scenes. On July 1, Sami ‘Haxu’ Hakala formally stepped into the managing director function, and I’ve continued supporting him and the leadership team till immediately to make sure full operational continuity and stability. Housemarque’s technique and inventive imaginative and prescient are in distinctive palms.”
Tamara Feiman appointed CEO of Lion Studios
Tamara Feiman has been appointed CEO at Tripledot Studios’ Lion Studios. Feiman beforehand served as publishing normal supervisor, having began her profession at Lion Studios in 2020 as EMEA enterprise growth lead.
“I joined Lion six years in the past,” stated Feiman. “Since then, I’ve had the privilege of rising alongside the corporate by its greatest successes, challenges and transformations. However what has at all times made Lion particular is how we work with our companion studios. Collectively, we have taken dangers, discovered shortly and turned nice concepts into video games performed by hundreds of thousands.
“And Lion has by no means been about one individual. I am lucky to work alongside an unbelievable team throughout publishing, progress, product, engineering and market intelligence, in addition to our proficient studio companions around the globe.”
Heather Sangria | Neighborhood supervisor, Sega of America
Heather Sangria has joined Sega of America as appointed group supervisor. Sangria beforehand served as contract social strategist and group lead at One Extra Sport. She additionally labored at Undead Labs as digital technique and group supervisor.
Emily Rose Chen | Senior product supervisor, Name of Obligation, Activision Blizzard
Emily Rose Chen has been promoted to senior product supervisor for Name of Obligation at Activision Blizzard. Chen beforehand served as product supervisor, having joined as a monetary analyst in 2020.
Scot McCarron | Senior director, product administration, Name of Obligation
Scot McCarron has been promoted to senior director of product administration for Name of Obligation at Activision Blizzard. McCarron beforehand served as director of product administration on Name of Obligation, having joined Activision in 2018 as product advertising supervisor for rising franchises.