Playboy Exec Joins FaZe, Rioter to NFL, and Much More!
The big list of movers and shakers in the esports/gaming industry for Aug. 18 - 25, 2022.
Today’s issue is a little late because 1) it is immense in scope and size and 2) I am battling the effects of a COVID-19 shot I got on Wednesday afternoon. Call it perseverance or stupidity (dealer’s choice), but I managed to get everything together and into your inboxes.
Anyway, I hope you appreciate my efforts this week, and always thank you so much for reading—I hope you find it useful.
Let’s get into this week’s biggest moves in esports and gaming! - James Fudge.
Movers & Shakers
Romeo Misao, country head for India, is the latest executive to resign from Dubai-based at Galaxy Racer. Misao resigned earlier this month and did not disclose why he has left the company or where he plans to go next. He spent the last five months leading growth, business and scaling of the regional operations in India. Prior to that he was head of marketing for South Asia and India, where he secured partnerships with brands such as Amazon Mini-Tv, Airtel Gaming, Microsoft Xbox, Warner Music, Tyroo, and many others. Misao joined Galaxy Racer from Garena, where he helped the South Korean publisher spearhead efforts for its popular game, Free Fire.
Tami Lam has joined Destiny maker Bungie as a senior producer to work on an unannounced project. Lam is a seasoned game industry veteran with over 15 years of experience working with such companies as Blizzard Entertainment, Zynga, Riot Games, The Playforge, PopCap Games, Playdom, and many others. Prior to leaving Blizzard, Lam served as a senior game producer on a brand new IP.
Evan Narcisse has joined Brass Lion Entertainment as its senior writer. Brass Lion describes itself as an entertainment studio creating fictional worlds that center on "Black, Brown, and other marginalized characters, cultures, and stories." In addition to being a regular contributor to Kotaku, Narcisse has written comics and graphics novels for the likes of Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and WWE, among others. He also has writing credits on Arkane Studios' upcoming open-world shooter Redfall and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (full disclosure: the author worked with Narcisse at CrispyGamer).
As revealed in our sister publication The Fudge Retort yesterday, after two-and-a-half years at Riot Games in multiple roles, Alex Francois has left the company to return to the National Football League (NFL) as director of football business strategy. More details here. On a related note, registration for the $150K USD Madden Fall 2022 National Championship (a LevelNext collegiate esports league competition from EA, the NFL, and LEARFIELD) opens today.
People on the Move
Here is this week’s list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:
Esports:
Former Playboy and Sony executive Christoph Pachler joins FaZe Clan as its new chief financial officer. He replaces Amit Bajaj, who left the company in May.
Former EA executive Todd Sitrin is named a strategic advisor to Gfinity's newly launched Athlos Game division.
Moon Weng Leong has resigned from his role as regional head of commercial & partnerships for APAC/SEA at Galaxy Racer.
Kieran "etoh" Price has found a new home as an in-game producer at Vindex-owned esports event production company Esports Engine.
Zachary Lange joins NRG Esports as its new head of socials.
Gurshaan Arora will leave his role as social media manager at NYXL and the New York Subliners at the end of this month.
Marco Cavazzana joins Ninjas in Pyjamas as its new VP of creative studios.
Kristen Reid, who was laid off from EBET recently (where he served as the company's esports operations lead) has joined 888 Spectate as a product owner.
Steven Underwood joins Moonwalk Media/Spacestation Gaming as its new director of brand partnerships.
Daniel Morales Brucher moves to Riot Games (Berlin) to tackle the new position of EMEA partnerships and alliances manager for League of Legends Esports.
Grace Dustin has joined Riot Games as its new global social lead, entertainment.
Simon Stenvang has joined Astralis as its new esport tournament director.
Oliver Parsons leaves Space Force Gaming to join UKnightedXP as its new chief marketing officer.
Billy Rayfe, who was recently laid off at 100 Thieves, joins AOE Creative as its new social media specialist.
Sabína Šipošová leaves Ninjas in Pyjamas after more than two years.
Eric Sanders joins 100 Thieves as the new director of talent strategy.
Jacob Clifton was let go from his role as coach of London Spitfire.
Kevin Wright joins Subnation as the new director of marketing, head of The Player's League.
Jacob McNally joins EPIC.LAN as its new partnerships coordinator.
Turki Alfawzan joins ESL Gaming owner Savvy Gaming Group as an executive committee member. He is also the CEO of the Saudi Esports Federation.
British Esports appoints Kalam Neale as its new head of education.
Tonny Huynh has been promoted to the role of digital creator & specialist at Astralis.
Steven Sarandos has been appointed to the role of chief of Department of Air Force Esports by the U.S. Air Force.
Jeffery Fricke-Waters joins DePaul University as its new esports coordinator.
Dylan Hart joins eFuse as its new content video editor.
Vlad Suzdal is promoted to the role of content partnerships for Poland & CIS at Twitch.
Cameron Vanloo has been named interim esports course director at Staffordshire University.
Sovann Kim joins Pinnacle Sports as its marketing specialist - esports.
Gaming:
Elisabeth Torre-Vincent leaves Ubisoft after more than seven years to join Tencent Games' Level Infinite as its new marketing director for Western Europe, with a focus on new product launches in the region.
Stewart Pagan leaves Crunchyroll to join The Pokémon Company as its bilingual product marketing manager.
Devin Moore leaves his role at Microsoft to join Apple as the new senior global brand marketing manager for Apple Arcade.
Ben Cooper joins Microsoft as the new senior communications manager for Xbox.
Justin Pappas has left OtherSide Entertainment to join Monolith Productions (a WB Games studio) as a senior world designer.
Ali Edwy exits NielsenIQ to join Riot Games' insights team in Dublin.
Eugene Kim exits Apex Legends maker Respawn Entertainment after more than three years.
Shaun Norton exits gaming-focused PR firm Sandbox Strategies after more than 14 years to join Saber Interactive as its new head of marketing & communications.
Doug McCracken exits Supercell to join investment fund Andreessen Horowitz as a partner and head of games marketing.
Mike Kayatta leaves mobile developer Rovio to join Remedy Entertainment as its new lead writer.
Dan Sheridan joins Warsaw-based game developer Techland as its new global PR director.
PCGamesN Strategy Editor Joe Robinson will be joining Hooded Horse Inc. as communications director "soon."
Andrew Gonzalez has left his role as program manager at mobile entertainment and gaming company Jam City.
Jatin Bhardwaj exits his role at Ubisoft India as a community moderator to launch Glance, a gaming ops consultancy.
Bright Star Studios appoints a leadership team that includes Mo Fadl (chief publishing officer), Amber Sutera (VP of marketing), Sinisa Vuckovic (in-game art director), Max Zimnukhov (game director), Christophe Celard (VP of operations) and Thomas Hector (VP of infrastructure) Bright Star Co-Founder Joris Huijbregts is also promoted to the role of chief development officer.
Other:
Kara Vogel leaves her legal operations role at Discord and is open to new opportunities. She spent more than five years at the company.
Jessica Strassman has been promoted to a new role as music - label partnerships at TikTok.
Elaine Oglesbay has left eFuse to join Intellihealth as a software engineer.
Brett Krause leaves his role as chief investment officer at FunPlus to join Transcend Fund as managing director.
Fiona Power has been promoted to senior director of strategic partnerships at FanDuel.
Dexerto has laid off Charlotte Peers, who served in the role of content distribution coordinator and as a journalist for the publication.
Umang Sharma has been promoted to the role of senior community manager at India-based streaming platform Rooter Sports Technologies.
Kim Larson is promoted to global managing director, global services and commercialization at YouTube.
George Powell joins DAZN Bet as the new global head of acquisition.
Former Kairos Media Influencer Campaign Lead Rahul Uppal joins Noice as director of creator relationships.
Caroline Castanier is promoted to partnerships senior manager at YouGov.
Marc Boiron joins crypto company Polygon Technology as its new chief legal officer.
Wouter Maenhaut joins the board of advisors of Belgian game addiction prevention organization GameChangers.
Karl Pugh joins Better Collective USA as its new chief commercial officer.
In Other News
❓ What social media disclosures do influencers and content creators need to be aware of?
❕ Sony increases the price of the console you can’t find anywhere…
👎 MCU project crunch including She Hulk is taking artists to the breaking point.
💲 New York is giving a tax credit to game developers who settle in the state.
😭 The $5B mystery fund that never delivered.
💘 EA and Major League Soccer are still in love.
🔎 The NFL is on the hunt for a video game managEditor'sotr’s note:
Editor’s note: Zachary Lange was not part of the recent round of layoffs at 100 Thieves. We have corrected the story to reflect that fact.
Want to highlight your latest hire? Looking to promote a new job opening? Drop me a line at jamesbfudge@gmail.com with the subject line “People on the Move.”