Developer Volition, almost exactly one year after putting out the controversial Saints Row reboot, is being shut down. The closure is effective immediately.
Volition’s shutdown comes after multiple tepidly received games
After some employees posted about it online, the studio put out a post on its LinkedIn page officially announcing the ceasing of operations. It notes that Volition has worked proudly for 30 years and been driven by its passion for its community. However, Embracer Group announced a restructuring program in June that led to the evaluation of the team, which, in turn, then led to the developer’s demise. Volition noted that it was going to “provide job assistance” to help its employees transition to other jobs before thanking its fans once again.
This shutdown comes after turbulent times at the studio since its last two games were critical and commercial flops. 2017’s Agents of Mayhem wasn’t received warmly and was criticized for its trite mission design, causing it to earn an average score of 67. Deep Silver was reportedly disappointed in its sales, which led to a round of layoffs.
This negativity compounded for the 2022 Saints Row reboot. It was also poorly received by many because of its dated open world and numerous bugs, which led to an average score of 63. Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors expressed his disappointment with the open-world game shortly after its release. In February 2023, the company went a step further and said it had a “subpar” return on investment.
Volition spent the last year patching Saints Row, though. The updates squashed bugs, added features, and addressed concerns. It only just wrapped up its support for the title earlier in August with its third premium expansion, A Song of Ice and Dust. Saints Row also just launched on Steam and is about to come to PlayStation Plus Essential.
Volition was founded in 1993 as Parallax Software Corporation. It came into the Volition name in 1996 after it split in two while making the first-person shooter Descent 2. Even though Volition is mostly known for Saints Row, it also developed the Red Faction games, as well as the RPG franchise Summoner and space combat simulator series FreeSpace.
