July 2026's Movers and Shakers: Rollic, Scopely, Nodwin Gaming, Rovio and more

To keep you up to date with the latest movers and shakers in the mobile games industry, we've put together a regular roundup of the latest hires, promotions and, in some cases, exits.

If you've recently joined a company or bagged a big promotion, or you're an employer that's just made a hire, drop us an email at news@pocketgamer.biz.

Rolling in and up and Rollic and Appodeal

After 10 months serving as senior manager, talent acquisition at Rollic, Eda Mert has been promoted to head of talent acquisition.

With years of experience in recruitment and human resources, Mert’s career has spanned a range of roles across Türkiye and the Netherlands, including Touché Privé, Trigo and Dow. Prior to joining Rollic, she founded Bean HR in 2021 and spent four years helping early stage games studios and SaaS companies hire staff.

Mert is currently hiring at Rollic as the Turkish studio continues to grow, successfully shifting from hypercasual to hybridcasual with major hits like Color Block Jam.

Kristapor Giragosian has joined Appodeal as chief operating officer, bringing a plethora of SaaS experience to the role.

After spending most of the past decade in the UK, the move sees Giragosian operate from Appodeal’s Barcelona office, the company’s European HQ. He’s previously spent eight years at Cognism, six years as a member of Revenue Collective and nine months as a co-founder and COO of TrustedIQ.

Giragosian has also spent almost three years at Operators Guild, a founding member in Greater London.

"Appodeal is a leading mobile app growth platform that helps developers maximise revenue through intelligent monetisation, user acquisition and analytics solutions. The company has experienced tremendous growth, and I look forward to being part of its next chapter," he posted on LinkedIn.

Plans and promotions in the US and MENA

Five US Federal Reserve task forces have been announced to review monetary policy frameworks, with each co-led by external advisers. One such task force has appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to an advisory role. She will help examine the economic impacts of AI and emerging technologies.

Sharma will co-lead this task force alongside Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen and Stanford University economics professor Charles Jones, who is currently on leave at Anthropic.

The force will be expected to provide evidence-based recommendations to the Federal Open Market Committee.

Teemu Koski has been promoted to CEO of Nodwin Gaming’s MENA division as the company continues its expansion in the region.

Before joining Nodwin Gaming, he spent over 15 years at Elisa Corporation, having founded and led Elisa Esports. He joined Nodwin in 2025 initially as chief business officer for MENA.

In his new role as regional CEO, Koski will lead strategy, operations, business development and market expansion across the MENA area, reporting to Nodwin Gaming International CEO Merlin Wiedeking.

"As we look ahead, my focus is on growing a business that's deeply rooted in the region while bringing together publishers, brands, creators, governments and technology partners to unlock new opportunities," said Koski.

Taking talent to Liquidnitro Games and Rovio

Liquidnitro Games has hired former Tencent Games Global CTO Cedrick Collomb as its own CTO, bringing almost three decades of experience into the fold. Prior to Tencent, Collomb has served at EA Mobile, Kabam, Sony Computer Entertainment, AMD, Pearson and LucasArts.

The Indian games studio has snapped him up off the back of a $19.1 million Series A funding round, set to help the company accelerate its plans and strive towards 200 developers in the company by the end of 2026. The current number stands at more than 140.

In his new role, Collomb will spearhead long-term technology strategy and market positioning, using AI and other emerging technologies to amplify creative possibilities.

"I'm excited to join such an accomplished team, including dear former colleagues from EA. Liquidnitro is a rare company where leadership genuinely understands that technology is a multiplier for game development," said Collomb.

"The team has identified real, endemic challenges facing the industry and built AI solutions that scale its combined experience and deep expertise. I strongly believe Liquidnitro's approach will transform the entire game lifecycle from creation, launch to scale and enable a new value equation for the industry."

Claire Gregoire has been appointed senior office manager at Rovio, joining the Angry Birds maker in Barcelona.

Prior to this appointment, Gregoire spent more than four years at Scopely as workplace and experience manager. Over that time workplace operations scaled from around 200 to 500 daily onsite employees, with part of Gregoire’s duties involving space management, communication channels and safety strengthening.

Now at Rovio, she’s responsible for ensuring the workplace is safe, efficient and engaging, meanwhile managing budgets, compliance and vendor relationships.

"I'm looking forward to working alongside an incredibly talented team, supporting a great workplace, and being part of a company that has inspired millions around the world," she posted on LinkedIn.

Industry manoeuvres

John Yang has joined Scopely as senior director of design on an unannounced title. Meanwhile, Miquel G has joined Scopely as a senior product manager and Tim Fitzgerald has joined the Monopoly Go team as a senior QA analyst.

Andrea Huey has returned to Scopely after almost three years at Kabam, taking on the role of senior director, performance marketing. Also at Scopely, Omar Zoghayyer has become quality tech lead.

Constantine Noulas is heading up paid media, CRM and more as performance marketing director at Team17. Jonnie Bryant has also joined the Team17 team as communications director.

Riot Games has hired Collin Schupman to serve as a senior software engineer on an unannounced R&D team. Meanwhile, Ece Bolat has joined Riot Games’ AI Foundations team as principal technical product manager, AI/ML platforms.

Darin O'Meara has been appointed as game designer III at The Pokémon Company International, working on the TCG side of the business. Taylor Lim has joined the company as a product marketing manager.

Saber Interactive has appointed former Epic Games executive Steve Allison as chief business officer.

Andreas Deptolla has been appointed president of Atari Europe, set to lead Atari's growing European footprint.

Alessandro Giuliani has started a new role as chief revenue officer at Verve.

Jared Palmer has departed from Microsoft, leaving his Xbox VP of engineering role three months into the promotion. He has joined Cognition as VP of engineering.

Solomon Ruiz-Lichter has joined GrowCap Inc as VP of strategic partnerships.

Tencent Games’ MoreFun Studios has appointed Yawen Kang as associate director of overseas publishing.

Francisco Cavaco has started a new position as junior product manager at Miniclip.

Gemma Cannon has joined Sega Europe as a creative designer. Alex Bonnett has left the company after almost six years, most recently serving as senior research and insight manager.

King has hired Florentine Postema as a senior lead artist (outsourcing).

Darrell Stephenson is now chief product officer at online games platform Poki, joining from Delivery Hero.

Bringing more than 17 years of experience across games and tech in the MENA region, Mahmoud Ziater has joined Qwacks as commercial lead.

Serra Alkoclar Alp is now a partner of venture capital firm e2vc.

Chloe Kwan will soon be joining Lilith Games as a strategy research analyst.

Kseniya Andronchik has joined Cubic Games as CMO.

Gabriel Ribeiro has joined Wildlife Studios’ Playables team as a senior game engineer.

Gabriel Ribeiro has joined Wildlife Studios’ Playables team as a senior game engineer.

Katrina H has joined Bidease as director of field marketing and events.

Anıl Başıbüyük has started a software engineer role at Circle Games.

Xsolla has hired Ray Yu as VP of game tech partnerships. JJ Park has joined as senior marketing manager on the Xsolla Mall team.

Gameloft Brisbane has a new lead producer, Valeria Lapteva.

Esra Akıllı is now a product specialist at Rollic.

Appointing COOs at Sega Europe and Xbox

Rovio CEO Alex Pelletier-Normand has been appointed COO of Sega Europe's West Studios.

While his current duties at Rovio continue, Pelletier-Normand will also be responsible for bringing mobile and live service expertise to Sega, as the company looks to strengthen sales across its games portfolio. He’s taken on the new title after Jurgen Post stepped down, moving into an advisory position.

"There’s a wealth of experience and talent across Rovio and SEGA Europe’s studios, and I’m relishing the challenge of bringing it all together to keep both businesses improving and innovating," said Pelletier-Normand.

Helen Chiang has been appointed as Xbox’s first chief operating officer, a new executive role created as part of the company’s restructuring.

Chiang previously led Mojang Studios and the Minecraft franchise. Prior to this, she spent almost two decades working across areas of Xbox’s business, and now returns with her latest promotion to oversee day-to-day operations across content, hardware and platform teams.

The appointment was announced by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma in the broader context of an Xbox "reset" and 3,200 layoffs. Half of those layoffs have already taken place this week.

To help those impacted by games industry layoffs, Amir Satvat’s ASCG offers supporting materials and a community to share job opportunities.

New titles and opportunities at Mojang and Paramount Games

Meanwhile, Mojang’s Alyssa Liu has been promoted from quality engineer to quality data solutions architect, marking her second promotion in under three years with the studio.

More broadly, she’s been working for Xbox Game Studios since 2019, working in quality analysis. Prior to Xbox, Liu worked in consumer support at Nintendo.

"After years of shaping data‑driven quality, performance and stability at Minecraft / Mojang Studios, I'm excited to share a rebrand that better reflects my role: I'm now a quality data solutions architect," she posted on LinkedIn.

"With that block falling into place, I look forward to continuing to build clarity-creating workflows, problem-solving frameworks and systems that help teams see the map more clearly and spark joy for players across every biome."

Christopher Serra has joined Paramount Games as VP, business development and licensing.

The move follows a 10-year span as Oculus VR’s director of games BD, where Serra managed more than $2 billion in deal value and served as the principal on all bespoke deal negotiations. His experience also spans EA and Chaotic Moon Studios, with 20 years in games across his career.

IPs among his past licensing deals include Grand Theft Auto, Resident Evil, Medal of Honor, Marvel, Star Wars and Batman.

Recruiting and departing at Homa and Stillfront Group

Suna Tarıyan Sevgili has left Product Madness after more than five years, joining Homa as lead technical product manager.

The new job marks a slight title change from lead technical product owner, a position she spent the past three years in at Product Madness. Earlier in her career, she also worked for Thundra, NuRD, Havelsan and more.

"A heartfelt thank you to everyone at Product Madness for an incredible five years, and especially to the Lightning Link Casino team. I'm grateful for all the opportunities, challenges, support and friendships we've shared. Working alongside such talented people was a great opportunity and has helped me grow both professionally and personally," she posted on LinkedIn.

Alexis Bonte is set to leave Stillfront Group just over a year after being officially appointed as CEO on a permanent basis. He took on the mantle in March 2025 after initially becoming CEO on an interim basis in October 2024.

During Bonte’s tenure as CEO, Stillfront has split into three business divisions across Europe, North America and MENA/APAC. The company has also seen broader leadership changes, led by Bonte during what’s been described as a "decisive period" by chair of the board Lars-Johan Jarnheimer.

Bonte said: "After close to a decade at Stillfront, first leading eRepublik Labs, the studio I co-founded and which joined Stillfront in 2017, then as group COO and most recently as CEO of Stillfront, it has been a privilege to lead this company through its transformation."

Promotions, hires and changes at Supercell, Scopely and more

After more than 12 years at Supercell, head of investments Jaakko Harlas has left the company to spend more time with his family. Meanwhile, Sven Schmid has begun freelancing with Supercell, "hacking away and prototyping new hit games".

Hakan Burak Karaman has been promoted to interim head of games at Rovio Entertainment, among a number of new additions at the company. Alina Mihai has also joined as product marketing manager for Angry Birds 2, meanwhile Mario Dorado Martínez has been hired as a game tool developer intern.

Işıl Eralp has just stepped into the role of interim Turkey country lead at Rovio, too.

Niall O’Reilly has been promoted to senior audio designer one at Zynga’s NaturalMotion.

Kei Kawai has returned to Japan with experience across Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now in tow, set to serve as president of Japan for Scopely. Hector Parra, meanwhile, has just come aboard as a live game producer for Pokémon Go.

Batel Daniely is now chief of staff at Incrmntal.

Nissie Arcega has joined Wings Interactive as a publishing producer.

Anna Rosa Lappalainen has been promoted to CEO at Return Entertainment, with former CEO Vesa Jutila stepping down to take on a new opportunity in Singapore.

Frederic Tremblay has joined Altkey Studio as VP of strategic growth, departing Bkom Studios after almost 20 years.

Xiaochuan Ge has been promoted to chief technology officer at AppLovin after almost four years with the company.

After nearly six years at Playtika, Shiran Zoie Saban has made the move to Wooga as the company’s new product manager.

Hiring new hands at Miniclip, King, Unity and more

Miniclip has hired Ankush Madad as a publishing lead, making the move from Lion Studios.

Shortly before the mass layoffs at Xbox, Wendy Huston joined as chief of staff to the CTO Scott Van Vliet.

Austin Rathe has joined Unity as VP, global comms lead.

King has hired Tweshaa Dewan as a data scientist.

Vincent Nord has joined Spinoff Games as a producer.

Raptor PR has appointed Ruzbeh Gazdar as account director and Sophia Hollis as senior account executive, joining from GingerMay and Zeno London respectively.

Gamze Keser has just started her journey into the games industry with a role at Dream Games, set to serve as a performance marketing intern.

More movers and shakers across the industry

Julia Jochheim has been promoted to exmox’s senior growth marketing manager. Meanwhile, Berksu Gunduz has been appointed senior account manager at the company.

Rodrigo Alvarez-Zucchino is now creator relationships manager at Supercell, working on the Clash of Clans team.

Arpita Jain has started a new role at Roblox as a senior data engineer. Lindsey Lydecker has joined the Roblox Design Studio team as a creative manager.

Ozan Aksun has been appointed creative lead at CrazyLabs.

İlker Türker is now senior monetisation manager at Loom Games.

Jungwon Yang has joined Neon Commerce as VP of strategic partnerships.

John Henry Race has joined Mistplay as a publisher growth manager.

Aaron Brunstetter has been hired by Discord as director of engineering, set to lead engineering groups responsible for the tech helping game developers.