THQ Nordic CEO apologizes for the 8chan AMA

THQ Nordic triggered an uproar last week when it held an AMA on 8chan, "the toilet of the internet" that's well-known as a home for racism, misogyny, and pedophilia. PR and marketing director Philipp Brock apologized for the AMA later in the day, saying he didn't "understand the history and controversy" surrounding the site, despite it being fairly well known to the online world—not to mention the obvious red flags that went up almost as soon as the AMA started.

Today THQ Nordic AB co-founder and CEO Lars Wingefors issued another apology for the 8chan AMA, saying that he condemns "all unethical content this website stands for," while acknowledging that "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," Wingefors wrote. 

"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." 

Wingefors, as he said, is the CEO of THQ Nordic AB, the parent company of THQ Nordic GmbH. As Coffee Stain Studios pointed out last week in an apparent effort to distance itself from this ridiculous and wholly-avoidable mess, it was THQ Nordic GmbH—Coffee Stain's sister company, not parent—that appeared on 8chan. It's a distinction the company itself rarely makes: The Twitter account that promoted, and the apologized for, the AMA is simply "THQ Nordic," for instance. But in this particular case, the company seems eager to be clear that the mea culpa comes from the top.