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Embark Studios Ousts Co-Founder Following Sexual Misconduct Allegations

IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

Embark Studios Ousts Co-Founder Following Sexual Misconduct Allegations

A co-founder of Embark Studios is out at the company after allegations of sexual misconduct against him arose.
insider-gaming.com insider-gaming.com

Embark Studios Co-Founder and CCO Rob Runesson is out at the company following allegations of sexual misconduct.

First reported by IGN's Rebekah Valentine, Runesson's departure comes via what Embark is calling a "mutual" agreement to part ways.

Allegations against Runesson came in March, claiming that he engaged in sexual misconduct against a "popular female streamer" of Embark's game The Finals. The accuser claims that the streamer became "increasingly uncomfortable" with Runesson's actions, but believed they couldn't push back against it due to their need for promotion of her streams in order to earn income.

In a statement to IGN, Embark confirmed the departure after being made aware of the allegations and hired a firm to investigate the claims.

"Our leadership team was recently made aware of allegations against an Embark employee," the studio said. "We take these matters seriously, and as a part of our process for addressing any types of allegations, we immediately hired a law firm to conduct an external investigation. The investigation did not substantiate the allegations, but we found the situation unsustainable and mutually agreed to part ways with Rob."

IGN reached out to the streamer, who chose not to comment on the record. However, they claim that "a number of the allegations circulated were out of context or misleading."
Click to expand...
 
"Our leadership team was recently made aware of allegations against an Embark employee," the studio said. "We take these matters seriously, and as a part of our process for addressing any types of allegations, we immediately hired a law firm to conduct an external investigation. The investigation did not substantiate the allegations, but we found the situation unsustainable and mutually agreed to part ways with Rob."
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IGN reached out to the streamer, who chose not to comment on the record. However, they claim that "a number of the allegations circulated were out of context or misleading."
Click to expand...
These are important parts to highlight as people discuss.

Also in the IGN article
These accusations come at the same time as another, similar controversy where multiple male The Finals esports players have been accused of inappropriate behavior toward women in the community. In a Discord statement from one month ago, Embark announced it would be pausing its current outbound esports efforts while it underwent an evaluation and review of its competitive system. "We have reviewed these concerns carefully, including with external legal counsel, and are confident that at this time, our decisions and actions have been appropriate and within the scope of our responsibilities as a publisher and organizer. We take these matters seriously."
Click to expand...
www.ign.com

Arc Raiders, The Finals Dev Embark Studios Parts Ways With Co-founder Following Misconduct Allegations and External Investigation

Embark Studios, the dev behind Arc Raiders and The Finals has "mutually agreed to part ways" with co-founder and CCO Rob Runesson following public allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a popular The Finals streamer, as well as an external investigation that Embark claims "did not...
www.ign.com www.ign.com
 
For a second I thought that was the brother that made the game Kena. But that's "Ember Labs". :messenger_tears_of_joy: :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Nicole Scherzinger Television GIF
 
Reads like the investigation couldn't prove it one way or the other, but there was enough going on there for them to not want Runesson around. Makes sense; if he's doing questionable shit, you don't wanna wait for it to graduate.
 
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Obviously, there's two sides to everything and it's entirely possible he's just really bad at flirting, but... I've seen enough bad actors in this position that I would hardly be surprised if the guy's conduct was actually egregious. Realistically, the company probably had to do it.
 
ZehDon said:
Reads like the investigation couldn't prove it one way or the other, but there was enough going on there for them to not want Runesson around. Makes sense; if he's doing questionable shit, you don't wanna wait for it to graduate.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the investigation didn't find the specific accusations from the google doc to be true - which the accuser kind of confirmed to IGN that they were misleading.

But he was still messing around with people in the community, which opens up Embark to a potential shit storm. So they rightfully decide to cut ties.
 
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So the investigation didn't turn up anything, but the company absolutely does not want this to spiral out of control like we saw with Blizzard and Ubisoft, whether true or not. Wouldn't be surprised if by "made her uncomfortable" really translated to "he said something I disagreed with" honestly.
 
"We take these matters seriously, and as a part of our process for addressing any types of allegations, we immediately hired a law firm to conduct an external investigation. The investigation did not substantiate the allegations, but we found the situation unsustainable and mutually agreed to part ways with Rob."

Are we still doing this in 2026?
 
Loomy said:
These are important parts to highlight as people discuss.

Also in the IGN article

www.ign.com

Arc Raiders, The Finals Dev Embark Studios Parts Ways With Co-founder Following Misconduct Allegations and External Investigation

Embark Studios, the dev behind Arc Raiders and The Finals has "mutually agreed to part ways" with co-founder and CCO Rob Runesson following public allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a popular The Finals streamer, as well as an external investigation that Embark claims "did not...
www.ign.com www.ign.com
Click to expand...
They did an investigation that found nothing and the female streamer in question said the allegations were misleading?

So it doesn't matter if it's false now?

Sounds like some purple haired leftist person didn't like some comments on a stream and is making a storm out of it.
 
kpopSuperstar said:
They did an investigation that found nothing and the female streamer in question said the allegations were misleading?

So it doesn't matter if it's false now?

Sounds like some purple haired leftist person didn't like some comments on a stream and is making a storm out of it.
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Sigh, GamerGate 1 all over again. I hope this doesn't impact Embark too much just because of this crap.
 
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So he's not a left wing/communist, ok, will ignore stupid leftist cancel culture, courts decide not some IGN shit.
 
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Griffon said:
Im surprised there isn't already a few game studios with a strict "no women" hiring policy.
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Tbf, we live in a wacko world where a grown, 6'7 tall, NFL linebacker can put on a wig, a cheap dress, have shitty makeup caked on his face and call himself a """woman""" nowadays. I would rather implement a "a no deranged mental cases" hiring policy myself.
 
EviLore said:
The co-founder and chief creative officer is irrelevant to the company's success? Unlikely.
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Different guy. Chief Creative Officer is Stefan Strandberg who is still at Embark. Looks like he'll be taking on Rob Runesson's responsibilities and team.

The middle C in Runneson's CCO title was "Content". They also had 6 co-founders and were acquired 5 years ago. This specifically is not going to ruin them. There are bigger player facing problems they could fix that, if they don't, could eventually bite them in the ass.
 
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If you are someone in the trenches of building the game a streamer would play, stay the fuck away from the streamer. Bear traps, every one of them.
 
Sweden85 said:
Wow without any evidence??
Click to expand...

It's even worse.

It appears after an external investigation they found the allegations to be untrue (even confirmed by the streamer who said they were misleading) and then the company fired him anyway and put out this stupid press release to slander his name (since most people won't read beyond the headline).

Western society continues its inexorable march into deeper and deeper levels of misandry under the guise of feminism.
 
I've been bossing women around for 20 years straight and never once tried to hit on or smash any of them at work. Not 'cause I'm some model, but because I know that shit can blow up in your face real quick. With billions of chicks outside the office to chase, fuck, do whatever with, why risk it?

Rule for any dude in charge of women: treat 'em like they're ugly gay guys or like your nasty little sister you can't stand. Zero attraction, zero risk. Billions of bitches outside the office, go get yours there.
 
Sweden85 said:
Wow without any evidence??
Click to expand...
TheThreadsThatBindUs said:
It's even worse.

It appears after an external investigation they found the allegations to be untrue (even confirmed by the streamer who said they were misleading) and then the company fired him anyway and put out this stupid press release to slander his name (since most people won't read beyond the headline).

Western society continues its inexorable march into deeper and deeper levels of misandry under the guise of feminism.
Click to expand...
Nexon/Embark would not put themselves in a position to be sued for wrongful termination.

While the specific allegations about wearing a "vibrating butt plug" or "jerking off on stream" may be fictional, I doubt he would have been fired if they didn't find evidence of him misusing/abusing his role.

That would be a very expensive mistake to make on Embark's part.
 
Loomy said:
Nexon/Embark would not put themselves in a position to be sued for wrongful termination.

While the specific allegations about wearing a "vibrating butt plug" or "jerking off on stream" may be fictional, I doubt he would have been fired if they didn't find evidence of him misusing/abusing his role.

That would be a very expensive mistake to make on Embark's part.
Click to expand...
Or maybe he was man enough to realize that this drama could ruin the company he built and he agreed to mutually part ways? Was he terminated?...we don't know.

The investigation found nothing, and the supposed "victim" had this to say:
Notably, the alleged victim, when contacted by IGN, stated that some of the claims circulating were "out of context or misleading"
Click to expand...

All of this was started by a third party male streamer who didn't even know this girl before mid 2024. We can fan fiction this any way we want, but when an external investigation comes up empty and the person who is supposed to be the victim says that the information he leaked is out of context or misleading, I'm not going to automatically assume Runesson did anything wrong.

xanaum said:
I've been bossing women around for 20 years straight and never once tried to hit on or smash any of them at work. Not 'cause I'm some model, but because I know that shit can blow up in your face real quick. With billions of chicks outside the office to chase, fuck, do whatever with, why risk it?

Rule for any dude in charge of women: treat 'em like they're ugly gay guys or like your nasty little sister you can't stand. Zero attraction, zero risk. Billions of bitches outside the office, go get yours there.
Click to expand...
He wasn't her boss. She was a twitch streamer.
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs said:
It's even worse.

It appears after an external investigation they found the allegations to be untrue (even confirmed by the streamer who said they were misleading) and then the company fired him anyway and put out this stupid press release to slander his name (since most people won't read beyond the headline).

Western society continues its inexorable march into deeper and deeper levels of misandry under the guise of feminism.
Click to expand...
I don't even play Raiders and with reading that I would stop playing immediately.
Crazy Ex Girlfriend Idk GIF
 
xanaum said:
Rule for any dude in charge of women: treat 'em like they're ugly gay guys or like your nasty little sister you can't stand. Zero attraction, zero risk. Billions of bitches outside the office, go get yours there.
Click to expand...
Your behaviour outside the office even minor transgressions can 100% get you fired.
 
I will start by saying the person who wrote the doc and made these things public is...how do you say...an asshole. And I get why this can be especially frustrating seeing as how we'll never hear Rob talk about this, and the accuser has decided to remain quiet as well. That said:

RafterXL said:
Or maybe he was man enough to realize that this drama could ruin the company he built and he agreed to mutually part ways? Was he terminated?...we don't know.

The investigation found nothing, and the supposed "victim" had this to say:

All of this was started by a third party male streamer who didn't even know this girl before mid 2024. We can fan fiction this any way we want, but when an external investigation comes up empty and the person who is supposed to be the victim says that the information he leaked is out of context or misleading, I'm not going to automatically assume Runesson did anything wrong.
Click to expand...
Worth pointing out the accuser also didn't say absolutely nothing happened. You only bolded the convenient part of the quote. They said "a number" of the claims were out of context or misleading. Not "all" of the claims were out of context or misleading.

I'm not going to link to the doc here because it's bullshit, but all of the claims were bad. So even if only some were accurate, that's still bad.

The firm investigated and found that the allegations made by the 3rd party were not credible. As a part of this they 100% interviewed the accuser. Even if they said the relationship or whatever happened was consensual, that's still a problem for Embark

RafterXL said:
He wasn't her boss. She was a twitch streamer.
Click to expand...
Still bad, unfortunately. Remember Cas Anvar? This seems like a similar situation. Dude was being a creep to fans of the show he met on the job as a cast member. If a developer and community leader is being a creep to a community member - especially one who publicly promotes the game on their behalf - that's a problem for Embark.

What happens if 2 years from now the accuser goes on stream and talks about it, and then says "Embark has known for 2 years, but they never did anything about it"? That's a horrible look not just for Rob, but for then entire Embark leadership. That's a "IGN can report that the entire Embark C-suite stepped down" size problem.

That is what they mean when they say the situation was unsustainable.

Again, this isn't John at the corner store harassing the checkout girl. This is a multi-hundred million dollar studio owned by a publisher valued at almost $20b.
 
Loomy said:
Nexon/Embark would not put themselves in a position to be sued for wrongful termination.

While the specific allegations about wearing a "vibrating butt plug" or "jerking off on stream" may be fictional, I doubt he would have been fired if they didn't find evidence of him misusing/abusing his role.

That would be a very expensive mistake to make on Embark's part.
Click to expand...

Did you read the details in the OP?

The dev press release says "they mutually agreed to part ways", which is code for they fired him but after realizing they fucked up and he was innocent they gave him a fat cheque to walk away and forget about it.
 
Loomy said:
Worth pointing out the accuser also didn't say absolutely nothing happened. You only bolded the convenient part of the quote. They said "a number" of the claims were out of context or misleading. Not "all" of the claims were out of context or misleading.



The firm investigated and found that the allegations made by the 3rd party were not credible. As a part of this they 100% interviewed the accuser. Even if they said the relationship or whatever happened was consensual, that's still a problem for Embark


Still bad, unfortunately. Remember Cas Anvar? This seems like a similar situation. Dude was being a creep to fans of the show he met on the job as a cast member. If a developer and community leader is being a creep to a community member - especially one who publicly promotes the game on their behalf - that's a problem for Embark.

What happens if 2 years from now the accuser goes on stream and talks about it, and then says "Embark has known for 2 years, but they never did anything about it"? That's a horrible look not just for Rob, but for then entire Embark leadership. That's a "IGN can report that the entire Embark C-suite stepped down" size problem.

That is what they mean when they say the situation was unsustainable.

Again, this isn't John at the corner store harassing the checkout girl. This is a multi-hundred million dollar studio owned by a publisher valued at almost $20b.
Click to expand...
I didn't conveniently bold anything, I bolded her direct quote, anything that isn't in quotes is editorial context. You notice they didn't quote her saying "a number", you did. If they had her on record saying those exact words why aren't they in the quote? Because they are interpretations or understandings of the person writing the story, not a direct quote of what the person said. And you said it yourself, the lawyers obviously talked to her and found no substantiation of the claims made by this other streamer. So do we believe independent lawyers, what she told them, and her quoted statements or do we believe an asshole male streamer friend?

And, yeah, of course it looks bad. It was intentionally released on Twitch with his name in the title to make him look bad. That doesn't mean he did anything wrong. I also 100% understand why he is gone, but that doesn't mean I think it's a good thing. The idea that a random fucking male streamer friend of a woman you are having sex with can get you ousted from a multi-billion dollar company, that you created, by reading a google document that the "victim" comes out and says is misleading is kind of bullshit. And even after investigation by a third party law firm that found no basis in the claims made by this third party streamer, Embark is still basically forced to do this because of current or potential blowback after they just massively blew up as a company is also bullshit.

But hey, that's the world we live in. Guilty until proven innocent, only to still being seen as guilty anyway. Most of these guys lose the second they get accused of something like this, and regardless of what happens after that they are never the same.

rkofan87 said:
and even if you don't they'll still call you out ninja sadly found that out
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I watched a streamer talk about how he got accused of some shit like this. Unfortunately the girl didn't know he literally has cameras in every room of his house, because they'll pull shit like this so often to try and boost their numbers and get sympathy, that he became legit paranoid to even have them in the house otherwise. This whole "believe all women" shit really got a lot of them grifting and trying to jam dudes up for money and attention.
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs said:
Did you read the details in the OP?

The dev press release says "they mutually agreed to part ways", which is code for they fired him but after realizing they fucked up and he was innocent they gave him a fat cheque to walk away and forget about it.
Click to expand...
That's all that's code for. Everything after is fiction. It's just business language for showing someone courtesy on the way out.

RafterXL said:
I didn't conveniently bold anything, I bolded her direct quote, anything that isn't in quotes is editorial context. You notice they didn't quote her saying "a number", you did. If they had her on record saying those exact words why aren't they in the quote? Because they are interpretations or understandings of the person writing the story, not a direct quote of what the person said.
Click to expand...

You're actually quoting a reporting of the original source. Your quote is a rewording of the actual source. Here is the original source from IGN(I bolded 'a number')
Update 8:34am PT: IGN has spoken with the streamer in question who declined to comment on record, but stated that a number of the allegations circulated were out of context or misleading.
Click to expand...
Also, If someone makes a false accusation of sexual harassment where even the accuser doesn't want to come forward, the person being accused would sue, no? Or at least vehemently defend themselves? Again, this is a layup. The accuser doesn't seem interested in talking about this publicly at all. It would be easy to crucify Balise. If this was all made up. But Rob accepted being let go instead.

The doc itself has no actual screenshot of any allegations of sexual harassment. The only actual screenshot of conversations with Rob was around the Partner program.

www.ign.com

Arc Raiders, The Finals Dev Embark Studios Parts Ways With Co-founder Following Misconduct Allegations and External Investigation

Embark Studios, the dev behind Arc Raiders and The Finals has "mutually agreed to part ways" with co-founder and CCO Rob Runesson following public allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a popular The Finals streamer, as well as an external investigation that Embark claims "did not...
www.ign.com www.ign.com
 
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