Ex-Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney has revealed that the company’s acquisition of The Finals and Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios was not an easy one. While the former CEO didn’t reveal any challenges on the side of Embark, investors at Nexon were not keen to pump money into more live-service games.
Right now, Arc Raiders is one of the biggest games in the industry right now with millions of players jumping into the extraction shooter. While fans prep for the game’s Cold Snap update and grab their permanent expedition bonuses, Mahoney is looking back on a troubled acquisition.
Speaking to The Game Business, Mahoney explained that the opportunity to invest in—and then acquire—Embark Studios was “the easiest ‘Yes’ I’ve ever said”. However, while the ex-Nexon CEO wanted to grab the studio filled with former EA alumni, investors didn’t.
“I got a lot of pushback from investors and Board members,” the former CEO told the outlet. “Certainly, a lot of the analysts I talked to were like, ‘what the hell are you doing? That’s crazy.’”
However, Mahoney explained that the state of the games industry was not great, and investing in Embark that early was dangerous. “Usually, when you’re buying a company, especially for large numbers, you want to buy one that’s profitable. Not only did they not have any profit, they didn’t have any revenue. Not only did they have no revenue, they didn’t have a product. And they were three years away… of coming out with a product.”
Nevertheless, Mahoney dived right into Embark Studios, as the CEO saw a lot of promise in the team. “This is a fabulous group that are operating at a level that people don’t really operate in our industry,” the CEO said. “They’re very, very rare.”
As for why Mahoney knew Embark was a good investment, that’s because the team behind The Finals and Arc Raiders are pros at what they do. “Games are systems and Embark understands that at their core,” Mahoney said. “They could say, ‘well this is a really fun system.’ Or ‘this system isn’t quite working for me.’ Once you have that in your mind, then you start making decisions very quickly about things.”
Arc Raiders is one of the biggest gaming successes of 2025, and it looks like it’s going to be a massive hit for a long time. Just like The Finals—which is still receiving regular massive updates—the team behind Arc Raiders have huge plans for the future.
For more Arc Raiders coverage, read about the creation of Scrappy the Rooster. Additionally, check out the best settings for PC and console, if you really want to.
