For the last couple of years, The Finals has felt like that incredibly talented friend who won’t commit to a career path. It has the destruction, the game-show flair, and the high-octane combat, but the competitive scene always felt a bit like a side quest. That changed this week. Embark Studios has officially stopped flirting with the idea and is launching a dedicated, internal team specifically to handle esports.
Oscar Lundberg — known to the community as “Schnobben” — is leading the charge. He is trading in his Community Lead hat for a shiny new title: Competitive Operations Lead. He is joined by Janice, another Embark veteran, to ensure the game’s “game-show” DNA translates into a structured professional circuit.
From Memes to Majors
The big takeaway here is the shift in focus. Until now, Lundberg was the guy hanging out in Discord and Twitch, keeping the vibes immaculate and the memes flowing. While he promised to stay active in the community, his primary mission is now building the infrastructure for the pro scene.
This isn’t just about hiring a few referees. It represents an internal shift toward treating the “World Tour” and competitive play as a foundational pillar of the game rather than a seasonal experiment. They want a long-term vision, and that requires people whose entire job is to think about tournament seeding and weapon balancing.
The Grander Major
The timing isn’t accidental. The announcement serves as a massive hype-builder for “The Grand Major 2026.” This year’s event is looking to dwarf last year’s Stockholm debut. With a $200,000 prize pool and a November date at DreamHack, Embark is clearly trying to signal that they have the cash to match their ambition.
Last year’s major proved the “Cashout” format could actually work as a spectator sport. By bringing the operations in-house, Embark can tighten the loop between what the pros need and what the developers actually build.
Can The Finals Survive?
Most shooters wait until their player base is massive to build an esports department. Embark is doing the opposite. They are building the department to ensure the player base stays massive. In a market where games like Hyper Scape or Spellbreak vanished because they couldn’t find a competitive identity, The Finals is doubling down on its unique destruction-physics niche.
(To be fair, Spellbreak wasn’t too great.)
It is easy to blow up a building in The Finals, but building a sustainable esport is much harder. With a dedicated team now holding the blueprints, the arena is finally starting to look permanent.