Thunderful CEO Steps Down Following Publisher’s $2m Loss
Thunderful CEO Brjann Sigurgeirsson has stepped down following the company’s $2.1 million loss.
According to GamesIndustry.biz the CEO, who held the position since the group first formed in 2019, is stepping down in order to take on a new role in the company’s games division.
Meanwhile, former CFO Anders Maiqvist has taken over until a new full-time CEO is found.
The original Thunderful was founded in 2017 by Sigurgeirsson, Bergsala Holding, and Klaus Lyngeled before merging with Bergsala in 2019 to form Thunderful Group.
The company is known for the SteamWorld franchise which was developed by subsidiary Image & Form and includes SteamWorld Dig, its sequel, and SteamWorld Heist.
But Sigurgeirsson’s decision to take a back seat comes after a turbulent time at the company which saw Thunderful make a net loss of $2.1 million for the second quarter of 2022, with operating profit down 62.1%.
Sigurgeirsson attributed the loss to “significant currency effects,” as well as other challenges facing the company’s distribution businesses. However, the company also made a $985,508 impairment following disappointing sales for The Gunk – the studio’s recent release which failed to gain steam in the same way as SteamWorld.
IGN’s own review gave it 7/10 saying, “The Gunk is a fun little platforming adventure full of malicious messes that are plenty satisfying to clean up. The small twists each new area puts on its fairly simple mechanics never drastically shake up its formula of vacuuming the landscape and then hopping to the next location, but an enticing story and a beautiful sense of style keep the clean-up process consistently entertaining throughout its relatively brief campaign.”
Despite the overall loss, Thunderful asserts that it was a strong quarter for its games division.
“We are now around 450 colleagues working on a large number of promising projects, and we have an exciting time ahead of us,” said Sigurgeirsson in a statement. “With that, the time has come for me to step down as CEO of Thunderful Group and for new forces to lead the group as we enter the next phase.”
“I will continue in a new role within our games segment and look forward to focusing on game development again,” he added.
What’s next for Thunderful? Check out the upcoming SteamWorld Headhunter, as well as everything announced at last year’s Thunderful World.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
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