Volition Video games, the studio behind franchises similar to Saints Row and Crimson Faction, has been shut down successfully instantly.
The information first broke on X.com, with a number of workers posting that that they had been let go and that the studio was no extra. In an official assertion on the studio’s web site, Volition states that Swedish holdings firm Embracer Group, which acquired the studio in 2018, has pressured it to stop operations as a part of Embracer’s company-wide restructuring. Volition’s full farewell submit reads as follows:
“The Volition group has proudly created world-class leisure for followers across the globe for 30 years. We’ve been pushed by a ardour for our neighborhood and at all times labored to ship pleasure, shock, and delight.
This previous June, Embracer Group introduced a restructuring program to strengthen Embracer and keep its place as a pacesetter within the online game business. As a part of that program, they evaluated strategic and operational objectives and made the troublesome resolution to shut Volition efficient instantly.
To assist our group, we’re working to offer job help and assist easy the transition for our Volition members of the family. We thank our prospects and followers world wide for all of the love and help through the years. You’ll at all times be in our hearts.”
– Volition Video games
Embracer’s restructuring is the results of the disastrous collapse of a proposed $2 billion partnership with Savvy Video games Group, a Saudi Arabian-funded group, who backed out of the deal in Might. This triggered Embracer’s share worth to plummet, forcing the mega-corporation into cost-cutting mode after it spent years buying a mess of sport studios and leisure IPs, similar to The Lord of the Rings.
Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors introduced in an open letter plans to make the corporate a “leaner, stronger and a extra targeted, self-sufficient firm,” which included plans to shut or unload a few of its sport studios, together with halting tasks in growth and different cost-saving measures. Sadly, Volition has change into one of many first casualties of this restructuring.
Saints Row: The Third Remastered
Volition’s demise comes after the corporate celebrated its thirtieth anniversary as a studio in June. Starting with the Descent sequence (launched below Voliton’s unique identify, Parallax Software program) and releasing cult favorites similar to Summoner, it discovered main success with the Crimson Faction franchise in the course of the 2000s, peaking with the well-received Crimson Faction: Guerilla in 2009. Volition would kick off the Xbox 360 era with the discharge of Saints Row, a GTA-inspired sequence that might steadily acquire reputation and a novel identification earlier than reaching its zenith with the critically acclaimed Saints Row: The Third in 2011.
Nevertheless, following the discharge of Saints Row IV in 2013, the studio entered a tough patch. It took a swing with a brand new IP within the tepidly obtained Brokers of Mayhem in 2017, which garnered disappointing gross sales. Its closing sport, 2022’s Saints Row reboot, additionally obtained a combined response from followers and underperformed in gross sales to the purpose that Embracer transferred the studio to Gearbox. With the studio’s closure, it’s unclear what’s going to change into of Saints Row, Crimson Faction, and the opposite franchises below its umbrella.
Whereas the previous couple of years weren’t type of Volition, there’s no denying the constructive influence its video games and sequence had on the business. What’s your favourite Volition sport? Share your reminiscences within the feedback under.