October 2025’s Movers and Shakers: Nintendo of America’s new president and CEO, Clash of Clans’ new GM, changes at Roblox, 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.

Major promotions: Nintendo of America lands new president and CEO

Devon Pritchard is poised to become Nintendo of America’s first female president when Doug Bowser retires at the end of the year.

Over her 19 years with the company to date, Pritchard currently serves as VP of revenue and has previously held the role of executive VP of business affairs and publisher relations. Her mission as president will be to grow Nintendo’s user base whilst continuing to reach legacy fans.

"I am humbled and excited to take on this new role. Doug has been a fantastic mentor, and I look forward to building on the incredible foundation he has helped establish," she said.

Meanwhile, Satoru Shibata has become Nintendo of America’s new CEO, the first since Satoru Iwata’s passing, forming a closer tie to the company’s Japanese hub.

Shibata will continue to work as Nintendo’s managing executive officer and corporate director in Japan after taking on the US position.

This isn’t his first role outside of Japan, either. Between 2000 and 2018, Shibata served as Nintendo of Europe’s president and has also spent a spell as Nintendo of Australia’s managing director.

High-ranking roles at Supercell and ZBD

Former King GM Sabrina Carmona has joined Supercell as the new general manager for Clash of Clans, bringing 15 years of industry experience to the role.

Nine of those years were spent at King overseeing major titles like Candy Crush Friends, Heroes Saga and Jelly Saga. Earlier in her career, Carmona worked at Goodgame Studios, Behaviour Interactive and Square Enix Latin America.

"Thrilled to share that I’ve taken on the role of general manager for Clash of Clans at Supercell," she posted on LinkedIn. "Looking forward to working with the amazing team to continue building the future of one of the most iconic games in the world."

ZBD has appointed Nicole Diaz as senior vice president of product, bringing to the role 19 years of product leadership experience across fintech, enterprise software and startups.

She will lead strategy and development for ZBD’s global payments products with a focus on multi-currency solutions that support in-game experiences. She will also aim to drive immersive product development for partners.

"I’m thrilled to be joining ZBD as they continue to redefine how payments and rewards fit seamlessly into digital experiences," said Diaz.

"I’m excited to work with the team as we continue growing our payments products to help partners deliver better value and overall experiences for players."

Changing the game at Roblox

After more than nine years at Roblox, VP of engineering Claus Moberg has stepped down with no current plans for his next professional endeavour.

He first joined Roblox as an engineering director and in the years since, has been involved in a rewrite of the platform’s entire front-end codebase, worked with Tencent to build Roblox’s Chinese presence, launched on PlayStation, and more.

And, during Moberg’s time at the company, Roblox’s peak concurrent user count has grown 10 times over - from approximately 450,000 to over 45 million.

Also at Roblox, Vlad Loktev has been appointed as chief creator ecosystem officer of its Creator division, set to lead developer relations and platform events.

Loktev brings 10 years of experience in product-centred roles at Airbnb and also spent one year as Zynga’s senior product manager. He has spent the past two years as an Index Ventures partner.

Responsibilities at Roblox now include building an integrated suite of development tools, leading the Innovation Studio and supporting creators large and small.

Movements at MTG and its studios

Plarium CEO Schraga Mor has decided to step down as the company transitions into Modern Time Group’s new Midcore District.

InnoGames co-founder and CEO Hendrik Klindworth is to become executive chairman of this Midcore District.

MTG chief product officer Oliver Bulloss will take up the role of its Midcore District CEO.

After 12 years in leadership positions at Hutch, Andy Watson has been promoted to CEO.

Playtika and Crazy Labs veteran Yoav Ecker has been appointed as CEO of PlaySimple. Meanwhile, company co-founder and CEO Siddharth Jain has become chairman of the board.

Hires and promotions across the industry

Former Light & Wonder exec Dylan Slaney has joined Aristocrat as Interactive CEO, after Moti Malul stepped down from the role.

Sunday has appointed Amirali Afshar as head of business ops and Sarthak Joshi as M&A manager.

Bagelcode has promoted Jeremy Kang to VP of product, after joining as director of product earlier this year.

Activision has a new associate director of product, gameplay in Tony Suen.

Jacki Vause is now officially a Women in Games Ambassador, after weighing in on numerous topics as a PocketGamer.biz Mobile Maven.

Leanne Bayley has joined Innovecs Games as head of 2D art UI and UX. Chris Rowe has joined as business development director.

Bidstack has unveiled its advisory team, which has been growing for the past 18 months. Members include Jerome Underhill, Jonathan Bunney, Julian Tan, Jarod Were, Andre Johnson and David McDowell.

Stephen Hey has been promoted to head of publishing and partnerships at Radical Forge.

Kickstarter’s Creative Advisory Council has appointed a new member in Thomas Bidaux.

Deniz Kirca has started a new role as head of marketing in TikTok’s product marketing team.

Patty Toledo has been promoted from board member to chairperson at Breda Game City.

Pontus Maehler is now a board member at Turborilla.