A week ago THQ Nordic revealed on Twitter that they were hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on website 8chan, a site which has garnered a controversial reputation for various reasons like allowing discussions from child predators and being generally less regulated than other sites of a similar nature. Despite concerns being immediately raised, the AMA still went ahead, but THQ Nordic apologised later that evening, and now CEO Lars Wingefors has doubled down on this apologetic stance.
Wingefors has released an official statement to employees, partners, and consumers regarding the AMA, clarifying that "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 alreadyin 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."
As reported in the original story, PR and Marketing Director Philipp Brock already apologised for the AMA last week, but the damage to THQ Nordic's brand can already be seen online. Some have questioned how this could have happened, and how those at THQ Nordic weren't aware of 8chan's reputation, so don't expect this to be the last we hear about the AMA.
What does THQ Nordic need to do moving forwards?