Rob Runesson, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Arc Raiders and The Finals developer Embark Studios, has left the company following public allegations of sexual misconduct with a streamer. According to an Embark spokesperson, Runesson and the company “mutually agreed to part ways”, despite an external legal investigation which “did not substantiate” the claims.
The original accusations were made by an anonymous, self-described confidant of the streamer in question, around a month ago. They’ve been shared on Reddit and read out by The Finals streamer Balise on stream. As reported by IGN’s Rebekah Valentine, the gist of the accusation is that Runesson pressured another, popular female The Finals streamer for “sexual conversations and favors”. The streamer was uncomfortable about Runesson’s advances and the potential conflict of interest involved, but felt unable push back due to being financially dependent on his promotion of her streams. The anonymous accuser has apparently reported Runesson’s behaviour to an Embark community lead.
IGN say they have both reviewed Google docs detailing the allegations, and spoken to the streamer concerned, who qualified that “a number of the allegations circulated were out of context or misleading”, without saying which.
“Our leadership team was recently made aware of allegations against an Embark employee,” reads a statement from Embark. “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.”
As IGN report, Embark also have an investigation underway with regard to accusations of male esports players behaving badly towards women in The Finals community, though the company have yet to specify the misbehaviour. They’ve paused their official esports organisation and planning efforts while they look into the situation. “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,” a spokesperson wrote on Discord last month.
