Who is Christofer Sundberg?

Christofer Sundberg is Liquid Swords’ founder, Chief Creative Officer, and that guy who created the Just Cause games. He’s also a father, sneakerhead, and fitness enthusiast.

A self-described ‘game maker,’ Christofer can talk about being Paradox Entertainment’s fifth employee, where he worked on Airfix Dog Fighter, a game that lets you fly World War Two miniature aircraft through a house. He also has stories about the localization of EA Sports in the 90s, bringing the NHL series to Sweden. As if that wasn’t enough, he can also tell you how he founded, grew, and subsequently left Avalanche Studios, before creating Liquid Swords from his couch during the darkest days of the pandemic in 2020.

Everybody has to start somewhere, and in Christofer’s case, that was ten years old. He loved stories, but wasn’t always patient enough to wait until the end. He found himself skipping to the end of his Choose Your Own Adventure books, cheating himself out of the opportunity to immerse himself in the different worlds. There may have been different ways to solve this, but thankfully he chose to develop a text-adventure game that forced him to stick with the story from start to finish. It worked and from that moment on, he was hooked.

His love for games kept growing, but there weren’t many opportunities in the field. Fortunately, with a little help from his then-girlfriend’s father, Christofer was able to stay behind the screen as a programmer for a pharmaceutical company. The only catch was that it was located in Boston. He packed his bags, boarded a plane, and headed off for a new adventure…

…only to turn back again a few months later when a new game development company opened up in Stockholm. He landed in distribution, and his travels continued all over the world, creating connections, and learning the ins and outs of the industry.

He stayed in this sector for the coming years, helping to launch (and localize) Starcraft, among other titles. Towards the end of the 90s, he joined the up-and-coming studio Paradox, but it wasn’t long before his drive pushed him to create something of his own.

At the dawn of a new millennium, Christofer founded his first gaming company, Rock Solid Studios. Despite the optimistic name, the studio was only in operation for a few months before it was forced to file for bankruptcy. When Christofer had made the difficult decision and sent the papers off, he returned to his apartment only to find out that his partner was going into labor with their firstborn.

Flat broke, in debt, and a first-time father, Christofer had a lot on his plate. In this sink-or-swim moment, he chose to run (a move he would later in life become very accustomed to). Sitting at his kitchen table, newborn in his lap, he started to rebuild. On the back of some old papers from his now-defunct studio, he wrote up the very first concept doc for Just Cause. This time, fate dealt him a better hand. Reps from the UK publisher Eidos happened to be visiting Stockholm, and he managed to meet with them to pitch his new game. They loved it, and Avalanche Studios was born.

Just Cause spawned three sequels, and Avalanche turned into a multinational operation with offices across the globe. The studio experienced both highs and lows, and at the end of almost two decades, Christofer found himself in a position far removed from the creative side of game development. The studio had been sold to Nordisk Film, and spending most of his time in board meetings looking at spreadsheets. For the first time in his life, games didn’t feel fun anymore. The magic was gone, replaced by endless stakeholders and meetings that went nowhere.

It was time to leave video games.

Christofer made a clean break. He shifted his professional attention to Ark Sports, a company he had founded in 2017 that involved his other passion and the only sport he truly loves: swimrunning. Running in a wetsuit, swimming in shoes, and hopping from island to island in the Stockholm archipelago gave him the breath of fresh sea air he needed to reset.

After some time away, Christofer found his love for gaming return. The only contact he had with them was on his couch with a controller in his hand. New ideas started to take shape, and one in particular stuck. In 2020, he knew he was ready to return to video games. But don’t you dare call it a comeback.

Liquid Swords started small with the intention of staying small. Based in Sickla rather than the video game hub of central Stockholm, the studio of 100 has a no-nonsense policy. That means open communication, a flat structure, and absolutely no crunch. Over the years, Christofer has been very honest about his own mental health during his time in the industry, opening up about his struggles and disillusionment with a sector he loves, but one that is also rife with crunch and burnout.

Asked about what makes up Liquid Swords' secret sauce, Christofer believes it’s the years of experience and talent in the studio that allow for faster alignment on development and creative direction. He adds that the absence of egos fosters a studio culture where teams use their expertise to solve challenges, fill skill gaps, and bring ambitious quality goals to life.

And for his role, Christofer sees himself as a facilitator. One who has communicated and placed his vision for Game1 in the highly capable hands of the studio’s department leads. For him, there’s no typical workday, though usually meeting-light (the Liquid Swords ethos); some days are spent at his desk, but he’s just as likely to be on the move between events and panels where he shares his views on the industry. However, most all about game development, with sessions spent playing through the latest build in the studio’s cinema hub.

It may seem like it’s been a long journey, but Christofer is really just getting started. For the man who was ‘terrible at school’, this is still the best profession in the world. Aside from a brief stint in a printing office and his side-gig clothing line, this is the only place he’s ever been and ever wants to be, in his own words, ‘Every day in games is an adventure, and there’s no industry like it.’

For more deep dives into the world of Christofer Sundberg, check out his interview on The Fourth Curtain podcast or stay up to date by following him on Twitter. Discover the studios he’s building by learning more about the teams developing the UI/UX or audio for Game1!