Embark Studios and its former CCO, Robert Runesson, have “mutually agreed to part ways” following an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct. Runesson helped form the company back in 2018 alongside several other industry veterans after working as an art director at DICE, but now his tenure at the ARC Raiders developer has come to an end. How things will proceed from here for Embark Studios and its games is unclear, but whatever happens, it will be without Runesson.
Things had largely been going well for Embark recently. Following a momentous October 2025 launch, ARC Raiders has established itself as one of the best extraction shooters in an increasingly competitive space. While things may have cooled slightly from its peak in late 2025, the game still draws impressive player counts, despite new competition from the likes of Marathon. It remains to be seen how long this hot streak will continue, but now the studio has found itself with a potential controversy on its hands with the news of Runesson’s departure.
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Former CCO Leaves Embark Studios Amid ‘Unsustainable’ Situation
In a statement acquired by IGN, Embark Studios announced it had agreed to part ways with Runesson after investigating allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a popular The Finals streamer. According to the statement, the law firm hired by Embark was unable to substantiate the claims, but the situation had become “unsustainable,” leading both Runesson and the studio to agree it’s best to separate. The news comes shortly after a similar controversy surrounding The Finals‘ esports venture that Embark began in 2025, when the company paused these efforts after several male players were accused of misconduct toward women in the game’s community.
In this latest controversy, an anonymous source says the female The Finals streamer in question had engaged in romantic and sexual conversations with Runesson but became uncomfortable with repeated requests for sexual favors. At the same time, the streamer felt Runesson’s position of authority and promotion of her streams would make it difficult to push back against the behavior. Eventually, she would report it, leading to the investigation that could not substantiate the claims but created the “unsustainable” situation nonetheless. It’s not clear what exactly happened at this point, but whatever took place, the Embark co-founder and contributor to several of DICE’s best games has left the company and, at the time of writing, has not commented on the situation.
After the initial news broke, the streamer at the heart of it all spoke with IGN and stated that some of the allegations circling online were either misleading or taken out of context. This caveat, along with the reports that Embark’s investigation didn’t substantiate the claims, makes it difficult to determine the nature or extent of the situation. Regardless, it may cast a shadow around Embark and its games in the near future, at least until more information comes to light to clarify things. Just recently, Embark had also issued a statement on an ARC Raiders controversy involving users of accessibility controllers getting banned, though that situation seems like an unintended error.
How much more information will come out, as well as how the reports will affect Embark going forward, is unclear. For now, though, some fans have expressed frustration with a lack of transparency, and others have expressed more positive hopes that additional details will clear things up and lighten the situation for all involved. The ARC Raiders studio has confirmed it’s working on two new games, so between those and ongoing updates to its previous two, there is a lot on Embark’s plate. Whatever the facts of the current controversy may be, it seems to have put the studio in an uncertain position.
- Released
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December 8, 2023
- ESRB
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T For Teen Due To Violence
Source: IGN