ARC Raiders Studio Boss is Now Executive Chairman at Nexon

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The positive reception to ARC Raiders has pleased Nexon, the company that owns Embark Studios. As a result, Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund has been promoted to executive chairman at Nexon. PCGamer reports this new position will give Söderlund significant control over Nexon’s future plans, creative vision, and worldwide game development.

Junghun Lee will remain Nexon’s CEO and focus on business strategy, but Söderlund will have increased control over the creative vision and development of Nexon’s games.

According to a recent statement, Nexon possesses all the necessary resources for significant expansion, including a skilled workforce, popular game franchises, a dedicated player base, and strong ongoing service support. While this presents a major opportunity, it will demand concentrated effort and strategic execution. Söderlund expressed confidence that he and Junghun share a clear vision for achieving this, and he’s eager to begin working towards it.

Lee stated that he and Patrick share the same vision for the future of Nexon. He praised Patrick’s experience in building successful game studios, hiring top talent, and launching popular games worldwide, noting that these are precisely the skills Nexon requires at this time.

Nexon will share more information about Patrik Söderlund’s role within the company on March 31st during its Capital Markets Briefing. The briefing will feature Nexon and Neople leaders, including CEO Myeongjin Yun. Attendees can expect updates on how Nexon plans to grow popular franchises like Dungeon & Fighter, and a first look at gameplay footage from new and upcoming games.

Söderlund has plenty of experience leading big companies. Before founding Embark Studios, he held key leadership roles at Electronic Arts, including Chief Design Officer and Executive Vice President of Worldwide Studios, a position he left in 2018.

In January, Söderlund discussed the difficulties in creating ARC Raiders, particularly when competing with major franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield. Because Embark Studios was a new team with only one previous multiplayer release—THE FINALS—Söderlund explained that they prioritized improving their development process and tools instead of simply hiring more developers.

He explained that starting a game studio and trying to compete with major companies like EA and Activision usually requires a huge team – five, six, or even seven hundred people. They deliberately chose a different path because they couldn’t afford such a large team and didn’t think it would lead to the best innovation or quality in their games.

When we founded Embark, we dedicated the first seven to ten months to planning ARC Raiders and, more importantly, to developing new production methods and tools. Our goal was to significantly speed up game development, allowing us to compete with larger publishers despite having a much smaller team.

ARC Raiders is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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2026-02-23 18:43