Jobs roundup: July 2026 | Marathon director Joe Ziegler leaves Bungie

Bungie has changed leadership on Marathon just four months after launch: Joe Ziegler has left the studio, and Del Chafe III will take over as game director while working with creative director Julia Nardin. That kind of early post-launch handoff usually signals a push to stabilize direction, tighten execution, or reset priorities on a live game that still needs to earn player trust.

For developers, the practical takeaway is that leadership continuity matters as much as feature work once a game is in market. A director change this soon after release can affect roadmap planning, team morale, and how quickly design, production, and live-ops decisions get made. Ziegler said Chafe and Nardin have already been operating in strong leadership roles and are ready to guide the next phase.

The same roundup also tracks a broader wave of movement across the industry. Notable appointments include Chris Chung heading Neowiz’s global business group, Jonnie Bryant joining Team17 as communications director, Dylan Beale taking over Larian’s Guildford studio, and several producer and business-side hires at CD Projekt Red, Capcom, Niantic, Paramount Games, and others. On the departure side, Supermassive Games CEO Robert Henrysson and Stillfront CEO Alexis Bonte are both stepping down, while Nicholas Penwarden is leaving Epic after 15 years shaping Unreal Engine.

Taken together, the list reads like a snapshot of an industry still actively reshuffling leadership around live games, publishing, business development, and studio operations. For teams shipping and supporting games, it’s a reminder...