Embark Studios, maker of The Finals and Arc Raiders, was fashioned again in 2018 by former veterans of Battlefield maker DICE. It’s now parted methods with a kind of cofounders, CCO Rob Runesson, following allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an esports streamer concerned with one of many studio’s video games. Embark mentioned the choice was mutual regardless of an out of doors examine being unable to substantiate the allegations after they first unfold on social media.
“Our management group was lately made conscious of allegations in opposition to an Embark worker,” the studio advised IGN in a press release. “We take these issues critically, and as part of our course of for addressing any kinds of allegations, we instantly employed a regulation agency to conduct an exterior investigation. The investigation didn’t substantiate the allegations, however we discovered the state of affairs unsustainable and mutually agreed to half methods with Rob.”
The allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an esports streamer for The Finals have been circulated on-line through a number of Google docs and mentioned throughout varied channels and subreddits, IGN experiences. An nameless particular person claimed a preferred feminine streamer had issues a couple of sexual relationship she had with Runesson however was unable to do one thing about it as a result of he leveraged his stature to advertise her channel. Nonetheless, the feminine streamer in query later reached out to IGN to say that a number of the allegations circulated have been out of context or deceptive.
Runesson was an artwork lead at DICE throughout a number of well-known video games, together with Mirror’s Edge, Battlefield: Dangerous Firm 2, and Star Wars: Battlefront. He fashioned Embark together with a number of fellow former colleagues together with Magnus Nordin, Stefan Strandberg, Jenny Huldschiner, and Patrick Söderlund. Runesson most lately served as chief content material officer for the Nexon owned studio whose 2025 extraction shooter hit Arc Raiders has bought over 14 million copies. Runesson didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The studio lately addressed different allegations of misconduct inside The Finals’ aggressive scene between particular person gamers. “For the sake of our group, our gamers, our companions, and the long run well being of our sport, we imagine it’s accountable to briefly pause our present outbound esports efforts,” Embark posted in The Finals Discord final month. “This season’s aggressive mannequin was constructed with sturdy intentions, and it’s our position to make sure it meets the requirements we set.”
