Firefall's developer RED 5 has today removed co-founder Mark Kern as CEO folowing a vote of the company's board of directors.
In an email obtained by GameFront Vice President of Development James Macauley revealed that the board had moved to terminate Kern's contract as CEO "effective immediately" and Kern will “no longer have any authority to act for or on behalf of Red 5 Studios.” He has also been removed from his position on the company's board.
RED 5 has yet to confirm the vote. The full email reads:
“My fellow Red 5ers,
“Today, the Red 5 Studios Board of Directors met and after deliberation have decided that Mark Kern will no longer be the Chief Executive Officer or on the Board of Red 5 Studios. Effective immediately Mark will no longer have any authority to act for or on behalf of Red 5 Studios.
“As one of the founders of Red 5 Studios and our leader for many, many years, we owe Mark a great deal of appreciation for all that he has done to help build this company and to set the vision for an incredible new game. I am personally grateful for my relationship with Mark and the many years I have worked with him.
“This is a major change to our company. Your managers and I will set to work to cover any and all areas that Mark was directly handling and we are continuing to solidify the plan for 2014. I assure you that we are and will continue to be here to serve and support each of you.
“We will be holding a team meeting to discuss this topic at 11:15 a.m. tomorrow but I wanted to make sure you were officially informed of this significant change to your company.
“Please grab me or any of the managers at any time or give us a call if you would like to discuss in private.
“Please refrain from discussing this topic outside the company.
Sincerely, James”
Kern is the last of RED 5's founders to depart the company having risen to the position of CEO in 2009. Since his appointment, RED 5 announced MMO Firefall and has a number of redundancies. In 2010 Chinese publisher The9 acquired a majority stake in the studio.
Kern previously worked at World of Warcraft developer Blizzard.
