Critical Role Hires Veteran Games Marketer Ross Thompson Ahead of Busy 2026

The person who launched Star Wars: Shatterpoint and ran marketing for Marvel Crisis Protocol at Atomic Mass Games is now headed to Critical Role. The company confirmed the hire of Ross Thompson as its new Integrated Marketing Manager on March 30, with Thompson set to begin in mid-April 2026, landing right as the "Echoes of Exandria" world tour ramps up across the United States and internationally.

Thompson announced the move on Instagram on March 27, writing that Critical Role had "built up so much over the last 11 years" and that it was "exciting to be able to join the adventure." His first order of business will be supporting spring and summer campaigns already in motion, including the Echoes of Exandria live tour featuring the entire founding cast in original stories set in Exandria, and a confirmed Mighty Nein sequel novel that landed in late March.

His résumé traces the tabletop industry's recent growth story nearly point by point. He spent roughly a year at Cephalofair Games as crowdfunding and marketing manager, working alongside the studio whose Gloomhaven campaigns reshaped what crowdfunding could look like for hobby games. He then moved to Steamforged Games as head of trade marketing before holding roles at USAOpoly and IDW Publishing. He arrived at Atomic Mass in November 2023 as senior marketing manager, earned a promotion to director of marketing in March 2024, and spent just over two years running campaigns across the Asmodee miniatures portfolio before departing in January 2026.

Those Atomic Mass campaigns are the clearest signal of what Thompson brings to Critical Role. Star Wars: Legion, Marvel Crisis Protocol, and the Shatterpoint launch each required coordinating community outreach, retail activations, and event marketing simultaneously for licensed properties with large, competitive fanbases. For a company managing Darrington Press titles, Beacon streaming, live touring, and merchandise under one roof, that multi-channel discipline is the gap this hire is designed to close.

Thompson also holds the Media and Events Director seat on the GAMA Board of Directors, giving him structural visibility into hobby-game retail channels and convention programming that most in-house marketers at his level don't carry.

Over the next 90 days, watch whether Darrington Press release windows align with Echoes of Exandria tour stop announcements, whether Beacon drops streaming content timed to a new campaign reveal, and whether any licensing or partnership announcement surfaces bearing the fingerprints of someone who spent years inside the licensed-IP miniatures market. Thompson was hired to make those pieces land together rather than separately, and that coordination will be visible to fans before it shows up in any press release.