Embark the Studios, manufacturer of The finals And Arc Raiderswas formed in 2018 by former veterans of Battlefield dice maker. He has now parted ways with one of those co-founders, CCO Rob Runesson, following allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an esports streamer involved in one of the studio’s games. Embark said the decision was mutual, although an external investigation could not substantiate the allegations after they first surfaced on social media.
“Our management team was recently made aware of allegations against an Embark employee,” the studio said. said IGN in a statement. “We take these matters seriously, and as part of our process to address any type of allegations, we immediately retained a law firm to conduct an external investigation. The investigation did not substantiate the allegations, but we found the situation untenable and mutually agreed to part ways with Rob.”
Allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an esports streamer for The Finals have been spread online via multiple Google Docs and discussed on various channels and subreddits, IGN reports. An anonymous person claimed that a popular streamer was concerned about a sexual relationship she had with Runesson, but was unable to do anything about it because he exploited her stature to promote his channel. However, the streamer in question then contacted IGN say that some of the allegations broadcast were out of context or misleading.
Runesson was art lead at DICE for several well-known games, including The edge of the mirror, Battleground: Bad Company 2And Star Wars: Battlefront. He formed Embark with several former colleagues, including Magnus Nordin, Stefan Strandberg, Jenny Huldschiner and Patrick Söderlund. Runesson most recently served as chief content officer for the Nexon-owned studio whose hit Extraction 2025 shooter Arc Raiders has sold more than 14 million copies. Runesson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The studio recently responded to other allegations of misconduct within the Finals competitive scene between individual players. “For the sake of our community, our players, our partners, and the long-term health of our game, we believe it is responsible to temporarily pause our current outbound esports efforts,” Embark posted in The finals Discord last month. “This season’s competitive model was built with strong intentions, and it is our role to ensure it meets the standards we have set.”