Games jobs roundup: Nordisk names Avalanche leaders as CEO and CFO

Marcus Bennett

Nordisk Games has appointed Stefanía Halldórsdóttir as CEO and Ásgeir Kröyer as CFO, placing Avalanche Studios Group’s existing leaders at the head of the wider games group.

Halldórsdóttir will continue as Avalanche’s CEO, while Kröyer will remain its CFO. The parent-company appointments follow a recent publishing agreement between Avalanche and fellow Nordisk subsidiary Supermassive Games.

What changes under Nordisk’s new leadership?

Allan Mathson Hansen, the former interim CEO and Nordisk Film chair, said: “Stefanía and Ásgeir have built Avalanche Studios Group into everything we want our studios to be: creatively ambitious, operationally excellent and growing.”

He added: “Putting that experience at the centre of Nordisk Games is the natural next step for the group. With this new leadership in place, we look forward to continuing to pursue our growth ambitions within games.”

Halldórsdóttir said: “I'm proud to take this on, and grateful to Allan for the foundation he's laid and the trust he's shown. Nordisk Games should be an active owner that gives its studios what they need to do their best work.”

She continued: “For us, that starts with investing in games and the teams behind them. Our studios lead their games creatively, and everything we do as an owner is in service of that work; that's the reason this group works. Ásgeir and I will continue to lead from Stockholm, which remains home for us.”

The practical change is that Nordisk’s group leadership now sits with the two executives already running Avalanche. Halldórsdóttir has also committed to investment in games and their teams, while leaving creative direction with individual studios. The announcement provides that intent but no new budget or staffing figure.

Gamescom Dev puts commercial in new hands

Game Events GmbH, the organiser of Gamescom Dev, has appointed Sasha Volkohon as head of commercial. She succeeds Roufina Guenkova and joins from Remote Control Productions, where she served as senior business development manager.

Volkohon will oversee the company’s event portfolio, covering Gamescom Dev and its leadership events. That gives her responsibility for commercial work across a programme extending beyond the main conference.

Frederik Hammes, Game Events’ managing director, said: “We are excited to welcome Sasha as our new head of commercial. Her experience working with developers, publishers, and other industry partners at Remote Control Productions is particularly relevant to our events.”

He added: “Together, we want to strengthen existing partnerships and develop new commercial opportunities across Gamescom Dev, our year-round leadership events, and the wider event portfolio.”

For Game Events, the change puts partnerships and new commercial opportunities under one executive owner. Volkohon’s experience working with developers and publishers is the stated basis for that mandate.

Three Warhorse hires join The Witcher 4

Three former Warhorse Studios developers have joined CD Projekt Red to work on The Witcher 4, according to GamesRadar.

• Karel Kolmann is now a senior quest designer at CD Projekt Red, after serving as lead gameplay designer at Warhorse.
• Zdeněk Glatz is now a senior open world designer, following his role as Warhorse’s lead level designer.
• Zbyněk Zelinka is now a senior gameplay designer, after serving as Warhorse’s lead technical designer.

All three move from Warhorse lead roles into senior positions at CD Projekt Red. Their remit covers quest design, open-world design and gameplay design within the team working on The Witcher 4.

Mandali hires a partnerships and growth lead

Stewart Neal has joined Mandali Games as partnerships & growth director. He previously served as studio director at Sumo India Studios.

Neal joined Sumo Digital in 2014 and held three company roles through 2020: insource/outsource manager, development manager and external content director.

He said: “Mandali has a rich heritage, a strong foundation and a talented team with experience working on some fantastic games. I'm genuinely excited to join Priyam Dutta and the team, and build on what they've achieved and help shape Mandali's next chapter.”

His remit links Mandali’s partnerships with growth, drawing on experience across insourcing, outsourcing, development and external content. The appointment places an operator with both studio-management and external-content experience into a commercial leadership role.

The next market signal to watch is how Nordisk converts its investment promise into studio budgets and hiring decisions under Halldórsdóttir and Kröyer.