THQ Nordic CEO apologizes for company’s 8chan event

Last week, THQ Nordic’s public relations team chose the website 8chan to host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) question-and-answer session for the studio, an ill-advised decision given the site’s association with child pornography, racism, and hate and harassment campaigns. Backlash was swift and widespread, prompting THQ Nordic PR and marketing manager Philipp Brock, who devised the AMA, to apologize.

Now, the head of THQ Nordic AB, the Swedish parent company of Vienna-based THQ Nordic GmbH, has apologized for the event.

THQ Nordic AB co-founder and chief executive Lars Wingefors published an official statement regarding the 8chan AMA today, addressing the apology to THQ Nordic Group employees, its partners, and consumers.

Here is the statement in full:

This letter is to offer my sincerest apologies and regret for THQ Nordic GmbH Vienna’s interaction with the controversial website 8chan last Tuesday, February 26. I condemn all unethical content this website stands for. Even if no one within the THQ Nordic Group would ever endorse such content, I realize simply appearing there gave an implicit impression that we did.

As Co-Founder and Group CEO of THQ Nordic AB, I take full responsibility for all of THQ Nordic GmbH‘s actions and communications. I have spent the past several days conducting an internal investigation into this matter. I assure you that every member of the organization has learned from this past week’s events. I take this matter very seriously and we will take appropriate action to make sure we have the right policies and systems in place to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

As a Swedish based, fast growing group, we firmly support equality and diversity. We are also working actively to combat discrimination, harassment, and misconduct. We are already in the process of developing new work processes, based on the United Nations’ SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and using the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards, and we will accelerate this work going forward.

Lars Wingefors

Co-founder and Group-CEO, THQ Nordic AB