Jobs roundup: June 2026 | Leadership changes at gaming service provider Side

Side has made a broad set of leadership and senior-team changes, with Olivier Deslandes promoted to COO after nearly two decades at the company. He joined in 2006 as head of localisation and most recently served as SVP of global strategy and growth, so this looks like a continuity move rather than a reset.

The company also elevated Martin McBride to CCO and added several new roles: Chris Donnelly is now senior audio director, Matt Furmidge is director of localisation and localisation QA, and Sijo Jose, Kaley Hurst, and Caroline McDonald join as chief services officer, CMO, and player support lead respectively. That mix suggests Side is reinforcing both client-facing leadership and the operational disciplines that support live games and outsourced production.

Outside Side, the roundup includes Lucy James leaving GameSpot to launch an independent weekly newsletter focused on upcoming PC games and demo codes, plus new appointments at 33 Games, Imprint Studios, and Mojang Studios. For developers, these moves matter less as headline churn and more as a reminder of where studios and service providers are putting emphasis: community, localisation, audio, and support are still being staffed as strategic functions, not just back-office work.

If you work with external vendors or are hiring into publishing, live ops, or localisation-heavy pipelines, this kind of roundup is worth tracking. It can hint at which companies are scaling specific services and where experienced leadership is being concentrated.