Steve Jackson Steps Down as CEO After 46 Years

Steve Jackson is handing over the reins. The founder of Steve Jackson Games is stepping down as CEO after leading the company for 46 years, returning to what he’s always loved most: designing games.

Sabrina Gonzalez, a longtime SJG staffer, is taking over as CEO. Allison Page, previously Managing Editor, has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer.

The news was announced Friday, September 11, 2026, via press release and a follow-up post on the company’s blog, the Daily Illuminator. SJG is inviting fans to drop by their forums and congratulate both Gonzalez and Page on their new roles.

The End of an Era

Jackson founded SJG in 1980 after several years at Metagaming, and his fingerprints are all over the tabletop hobby. He created GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) in 1983 — a genre-agnostic RPG now in its fourth edition, which Jackson and line editor Sean Punch have continually refined over the decades.

Other staples from his design career include the party favourite Munchkin, the quick-playing Zombie Dice, and the sci-fi wargame Ogre.

Jackson ran the company with an unusual degree of transparency, publishing yearly “report to stakeholders” blog posts. But SJG has struggled to keep pace with the wider industry in recent years — a challenge reflected in both its public-facing identity and its ability to pull in new customers. Modern players tend to gravitate toward either experimental indie titles or established giants like D&D and Pathfinder.

Jackson was always a designer first and a business owner out of necessity. Handing the CEO role to Gonzalez may give the company room to get back to what it does best.

Who Is Sabrina Gonzalez?

Gonzalez joined SJG in 2013 and has been with the company ever since, aside from a brief 2025 detour into game manufacturing that broadened her view of that side of the business. She’s held roles including Production Artist and Production Manager, and has sat on the company’s Board of Directors since 2021.

As for her goals, she’s thinking about both the future and the past. “As a general goal, I’d like us to continue to grow,” she said. “We weathered the pandemic and pivoted project plans to address continually changing tariffs. The goal is always to make great games that people love. I want to continue developing new titles for future generations of gamers and also support (and sometimes update) the classics that our fans continue to request.”

That dual approach is already taking shape. SJG recently struck a deal with Possum Creek Games to publish and sell its RPG catalogue, including Wanderhome and Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast, bringing on Jay Dragon as lead game designer and Ruby Lavin as art director. The company has also licensed indie RPGs like Luke Jordan’s Grand Guignol and Caro Acersion’s Last Train to Bremen.

Away from the desk, Gonzalez is a fan of party and dice games — dominoes is her all-time favourite and travels with her. She’s also a multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, piano, ukulele, and more.

One of her fondest SJG memories: one of her first assignments was designing everything for the Munchkin Tavern, from the logo to the signage and menus. A photo of the 2013 Tavern logo ended up on a T-shirt signed by many attendees that year — a memento that reminds her of good times with people who are no longer with us. “We still think of and miss you greatly, Andrew Hackard,” she said.

Who Is Allison Page?

Page joined SJG in 2023 as Managing Editor. Before that, she was Executive Artistic Director of Killing My Lobster, a San Francisco sketch comedy outfit, and worked as a Narrative Designer in video games — her entry point into the industry.

Like Gonzalez, Page gravitates toward party games. She describes herself as fiercely competitive and happy to take any excuse to shout and laugh. She’s been a comedy writer and playwright for over a decade, spending much of her time writing, reading others’ work in her writing group, and hanging out with fellow writers complaining about writing — which she considers a crucial part of the craft.

What’s Next for SJG

A few things are already in motion:

• Steve Jackson will focus on game design and development. No specific projects have been announced yet.
• Dragon’s 7 Part Pact — a complex RPG about wizards governing an archipelago through baroque politics and a shaky balance of occult power — recently raised over $1,000,000 from nearly 5,800 backers. Fulfillment and retail are currently estimated for late 2027.
• Munchkin 5.5E RPG, designed in partnership with Lynnvander Studios, is expected to hit Backerkit next month.

Both Gonzalez and Page say they’re ready for the challenge and looking forward to ushering in a new era for the company.