THQ Nordic CEO Apologizes A Week After 8Chan AMA Backlash

Last week the gaming industry was shocked to see a casual mention from THQ Nordic's PR talking about an Ask Me Anything (AMA) over on a social media forum so toxic that even 4Chan says it goes too far. Now that a week has passed since the 8Chan announcement, the CEO for the company has a few words he'd like to say.

For a little backstory, what's so bad about 8Chan? 8Chan is a site that is the literal gutter of the Internet. It's no secret that its a cesspool of rampant pedophilia with blatant imagery and the like in addition to a whole host of other issues that make it a community best avoided. It's because of that reputation that many were shocked by THQ Nordic's decision to host a community get together on that platform, though it seemed that they genuinely had no idea of what to expect. Given that it's the PR person's job to know what they were getting into, the entire situation quickly went viral and not for the reason they were probably hoping for.

"As Co-Founder and Group CEO of THQ Nordic AB, I take full responsibility for all of THQ Nordic GmbH's actions and communications," said CEO Lars Wingefors to investors and the community as a whole. "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."

He added, "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."

He was also careful to mention that though they don't support that level of content, it's understandable why the wrong message was received. Many were hoping to hear a statement following the backlash and though it's a little later than many anticipated, hopefully they will take special time before moving forward with their company dealings.

You can follow the author of this story on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy.

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