adminThis gaming industry jobs roundup for August 2026 tracks leadership appointments, new hires and promotions across game development, publishing, marketing and related sectors. The updates below include professionals joining new companies as well as people returning to former employers.
Gaming industry jobs roundup: studio and publisher appointments
CodeDev Group appoints Ben Board as CEO of The Performance Guys
Ben Board has been named CEO of The Performance Guys, the optimisation division of CodeDev Group. Board previously worked at Epic Games as business development director for the Epic Games Store and Unreal Engine. He joined Epic in 2017 as a developer support manager and has also held leadership positions at Bullfrog Productions, Lionhead and BossAlien.
James Turner returns to Pokémon Company International
James Turner has rejoined The Pokémon Company International as creative director of Pokémon Art and Design. In 2022, Turner left Game Freak to co-found All Possible Futures with Jonathan Biddle. The studio released its debut game, The Plucky Squire, in September 2024.
Billy King named lead concept artist at Respawn Entertainment
Billy King has taken on the role of lead concept artist at Respawn Entertainment. King previously held the same lead role at ZeniMax Online Studios and worked as a senior concept artist at Amazon Games.
Team17 and Loom Games add to their teams
Sam Duncombe has joined Team17 as brand marketing manager. Duncombe previously worked as product manager for games and film at Warner Bros. Discovery.
Cansu Karahan Can has joined Loom Games as people and culture manager. Can held a similar position at Stoikk, formerly known as Kompanion.
Fellow Traveler promotes Christopher Wulf
Christopher Wulf has been promoted to senior business development manager at Fellow Traveler. He joined the company in 2021 and previously worked as senior business and event manager for The Triple-i Initiative.
Julie Derhak joins Wizards of the Coast
Julie Derhak has been appointed producer for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. She spent seven years as a producer at Epic Games, contributing to Fortnite Tech Art and Lego Fortnite.
Mojang Studios appoints Alvaro Menéndez
Alvaro Menéndez is now international social lead at Mojang Studios. Before joining the company, he was a senior marketing manager at Epic Games in Madrid.
Frontier Developments promotions and appointments
Linus Johnsson has been promoted to senior audio designer at Frontier Developments. He joined the studio in 2022 as a graduate audio designer and previously worked there as an audio designer.
Dan Lazarides has joined Frontier as chief marketing officer. He previously served as senior vice president of marketing at Sega Europe, and succeeds Jo Cooke, who became Frontier’s CEO in January. The company said Lazarides will support its player-focused marketing strategy and community engagement.
Image credit: Dan Lazarides | Frontier Developments
Paramount Games appoints Nate Nanzer
Nate Nanzer has left Epic Games after seven years to become executive vice president and head of commercial and marketing at Paramount Games. Most recently, he served as Epic’s senior vice president of partnerships and monetisation. Nanzer said his experience across games, entertainment and fandom would inform his work in the new role.
Amazon Gaming and Studio MDHR appointments
Julia Gutnik has been appointed head of media at Amazon Gaming. She previously led media, social and analytics at Kia America and spent more than six years at Prime Video and Amazon Studios, where she headed digital and adtech media.
Lorna Antoniazzi has joined Studio MDHR as art producer. She previously worked as a producer at Roarty Digital on Fortnite Battle Royale and Lego Fortnite.
Grand Games, Games Workshop and Second Stage
Aysu Kutbay has joined Grand Games as product manager after holding the same position at Rollic.
David Bailey has returned to Games Workshop as lead commercial manager for licensing. He first joined the company in 2019 as senior licensing manager, then left in 2021 to become director of business affairs at Sumo Digital.
Liana Murphy has been appointed account director for US operations at Second Stage. Her recent roles included chief operating officer and head of public relations at Vicariously and V Publishing.
Tim Coombs returns to Amazon for Luna role
Tim Coombs has become head of brand marketing for Amazon Luna. He was director of brand management at Xbox until July 2026, having joined in 2020 as senior manager for brand strategy. Coombs previously worked at Amazon, first as product marketing manager for Amazon Lumberyard in 2017 and later as a senior product marketing manager and team lead for Amazon Game Tech, until April 2020.
Erik Mogensen leaves Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast
Erik Mogensen has left Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast after three years as senior director of business development for digital gaming. Before that, he spent 23 years at Games Workshop, most recently as head of business development and consumer product licensing.
Blizzard Entertainment and Battlestate Games hires
Ryan Rubin has joined Blizzard Entertainment as a senior producer. He previously held a senior producer role at Netflix, working on the released mobile games Squid Game: Unleashed and Selling Sunset. Rubin also spent five years as a producer at Riot Games, working in creative development across the League of Legends IP.
Andrey Odintsov has been appointed head of marketing at Battlestate Games. His experience includes user acquisition at Multicast Games and independent consulting in growth and go-to-market strategy for games.
Kalypso Media UK, Swipe Right and Supercell
Karen Ionescu has joined Kalypso Media UK as digital sales manager. She previously worked as sales manager at Numskull Games and has also held positions at Nintendo and Rising Star Games.
Hannah Barrett has been promoted to senior account executive at gaming and esports communications agency Swipe Right. She joined the company as an account executive in December 2025.
Anni Pyy has joined Supercell as contract manager after four years in the same role at Metacore.
ZBD, Riot Games and Xsolla appointments
Nathan Solbrandt is now senior vice president of business development at fintech platform ZBD. He previously worked as senior account executive at Motorica and vice president of business development for the Americas at Xsolla.
Olivia Lee has been appointed internal events producer at Riot Games, having previously served as associate producer for internal events and programs.
Ciarah Pritchard has joined Xsolla as account coordinator. She previously worked as account performance manager at Playback Rewards.
Tracey Thompson returns to Bethesda
Tracey Thompson has returned to Bethesda as vice president of communications. She joined the company in 2009 as director of publications and later became associate vice president of communications. After leaving in 2019, she joined Electronic Arts as head of product and studio integrated communications.
Nintendo of America and Yotta Games hires
Maddie Richter has joined Nintendo of America as social media marketing manager. She previously held a social media manager position at Alaska Airlines.
Dana Duffield has joined Yotta Games as a narrative designer. Duffield previously worked as a senior narrative designer at Series Entertainment.
Yogscast Games announces three hires
UK publisher Yogscast Games has hired Charlotte Willis, Robin Mawhinney and Charlotte Pang. Willis is the company’s new PR and influencer manager, following a role as creator and community director at Diva Agency.
Mawhinney has joined as production coordinator after working as a junior producer at Atelier 11. Pang is the new publishing coordinator. Her previous work includes producing, animation and art for Team Gramps and Queensguard, as well as teaching game design, animation and coding at Submarine Art School and The Code Zone.
Image credit: From left to right: Charlotte Willis, Robin Mawhinney and Charlotte Pang
Jars AI co-founders join Roblox
Steffen Holm and Chris Kruger have joined Roblox’s Foundation AI team to support the launch of the platform’s mobile-first AI creation tool, Build, in New Zealand. The pair co-founded interactive AI platform Jars AI in 2023 after raising $3.5 million in funding from Google and other firms.
Rockstar Games and Netflix Games appointments
Sathvik Sudireddy has joined Rockstar Games as marketing manager for live services. He previously worked as a product manager on Call of Duty at Activision, following an internship in business development at the company.
Joe Chard has been appointed lead product manager at Netflix Games. Chard spent six years at Jam City, serving as vice president, studio general manager and head of product. They have also held senior games positions at The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Key takeaways from the August 2026 gaming industry jobs roundup
This gaming industry jobs roundup highlights movement across creative, production, commercial, marketing and people-focused roles. When tracking career changes, check both the new position and the person’s previous employer or role: that context can help explain the experience they bring to a studio, publisher or platform.
