Embark Studios Parts Ways With Co-Founder Rob Runesson Following Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Embark Studios, the Swedish developer behind The Finals and the upcoming Arc Raiders, has confirmed it has "mutually agreed to part ways" with co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Rob Runesson. The split follows public allegations of sexual misconduct circulating within The Finals community over the past month, and an external legal investigation that Embark says did not substantiate those claims.

The allegations first surfaced through The Finals streamer Balise, who read an anonymous account on stream. That account - later shared via multiple Google Docs and viewed by IGN - described an anonymous individual claiming to be in contact with a popular female streamer of The Finals. According to the account, that streamer had been in a romantic and sexual relationship with Runesson, and had grown increasingly uncomfortable with requests for sexual conversations and favours. The anonymous source also alleged the streamer felt unable to push back due to financial dependence on Runesson's promotion of her streams, and that after reporting the behaviour to an Embark community lead, no action appeared to be taken.

It's worth noting: IGN has since spoken with the streamer in question, who declined to comment on record but stated that a number of the circulated allegations were out of context or misleading.

Embark's full statement on the matter reads:

"Our leadership team was recently made aware of allegations against an Embark employee. 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."

So. Cleared by the investigation, but gone anyway. The studio clearly felt the situation had become untenable regardless of the findings.

Runesson was one of the original co-founders of Embark, alongside fellow former EA DICE veterans Magnus Nordin, Stefan Strandberg, Patrick Söderlund, Jenny Huldschiner, and Johan Andersson. He had been a prominent public figure for the studio, appearing frequently in interviews and engaging directly with the community as both The Finals and Arc Raiders grew in profile.

No further comment has been made by Runesson publicly at the time of writing.