Embracer is closing down Volition (Saints Row)

[John Elden Ring]

Volition, the developer behind the Saints Row series, has shut down after 30 years, the studio announced.

In a message posted to the its official LinkedIn page, the studio said, “This past June, [our parent company] Embracer Group announced a restructuring program to strengthen Embracer and maintain its position as a leader in the video game industry. As part of that program, they evaluated strategic and operational goals and made the difficult decision to close Volition effective immediately.”

Get the full message from Volition below.

The Volition team has proudly created world-class entertainment for fans around the globe for 30 years. We’ve been driven by a passion for our community and always worked to deliver joy, surprise, and delight.
This past June, Embracer Group announced a restructuring program to strengthen Embracer and maintain its position as a leader in the video game industry. As part of that program, they evaluated strategic and operational goals and made the difficult decision to close Volition effective immediately.
To help our team, we are working to provide job assistance and help smooth the transition for our Volition family members. We thank our customers and fans around the world for all the love and support over the years. You will always be in our hearts.
—Volition Games

 

[Zzero]

Pouring one out for the Saints.

edit: They're one of the ones I predicted though. Their last game released "recently" and bombed which is always a dangerous time for a studio.

 

[ethomaz]

They company that keeps “delivering”.

 

[KnittedKnight]

Never dabbed into Saint Rows. Can't vouch or shit on it but it never impressed to say the least from what I saw - not for lack of marketing. Hope they land on their feet.

 

[CloudStrife]

Why buy all these companies only to do stuff like this?

 

[avenovah]

Microsoft will purge their studios too, it's just a matter of time.

 

[Bryank75]

Why buy all these companies only to do stuff like this?

Microsoft will purge their studios too, it's just a matter of time.

You guys said it...

Once the developers don't push the subs or sales up, they will be on the chopping block and at that stage, all gamers have lost.

First we lost the quality, then some platforms lost access and finally the developer was destroyed.

I used to love Red Faction, so for me, this is really sad looking back...

 

[Nym]

That really sucks to hear. I have enjoyed every single Saints Row game while I have grown completely cold on GTA over the years.

I was hoping they would get a chance to course correct with a bigger and better sequel to SR.

 

[Thief1987]

Embracer is falling apart so more to come.

 

[Zzero]

I think you guys are misreading this. Embracer seems to have given all of their divisions (at least the gaming ones) a targetted expenditure cut. Volition was part of Gearbox at the time, but seemingly only as charity so that Plaion wouldn't shut them down last year. But with the expenditure cut Gearbox was faced with cutting their own stuff or the charity case. Its no surprise what they chose.


Also, another divestment leaked out a week or two back. Goosebytes, a small start-up team (around ten people?,) brought itself out back in July and is no longer under Amplifier.

 

[SSfox]

Everytime i see Embracer in a news title, it's about closing a studio

 

[Say1nMan]

Sad but not surprised. Volition was headed towards the red before this Embracer mess. Agents of Mayhem bombed so hard for them that they needed to go back to Saints Row in an attempt to bounce back quick. However, they took a bad route with this new Saints Row and well the rest was history.

 

[Vertigo]

The Embracer scam saga continues. What a sham this is and will continue to be…

 

[voke]

30 years..... thats honestly so sad to see

 

[Yurinka]

It's so sad to see a studio with 3 decades of history shutting down. Let's hope the workers find other places soon.

Regarding the other companies, they should remember Saint Row as a case of "go woke go broke".

 

[riesgoyfortuna]

This why companies buying things without Discipline its bad in the long term, i will míss them, loved Red faction

 

[ToTTenTranz]

All of the sudden, this month-old video claiming "here's to another 30 years" sounds a bit depressing.

The Embracer scam saga continues. What a sham this is and will continue to be…

There's no scam in terminating a studio that hasn't been able to release a commercially successful product since Saints Row IV released exactly 10 years ago. And they did so out of incompetence because it wasn't for a lack of fans of their IP.
Volition suffered from a management that took terrible decisions and that's the hard truth.

Coming from the great Saints Row IV, they decided to release Agents of Mayhem which is identical to Saints Row but without the great coop features. Saints Row IV had spectacular drop-in/drop-off to play any of those ridiculous missions with friends at any time. They were warned coop had become instrumental for the fans of their games but the management didn't care and released a single player game nonetheless. And it was a massive flop.


Then they decided to go back to Saints Row, but they were somehow ashamed of the previous SR titles. They made sure to show exactly that to everyone, by toning down everything tongue-in-cheek and introduce a "gang" made up of cringe-inducing millennials that "you would invite to your home" with student debts.
Again, after the initial reveal their customers told them they wanted a remake of the original Saints Row crew and not what they were showing. Volition's management response to the feedback was this:




There's really no one to blame here but Volition's management. Volition wasn't even a recent acquisition for Embracer, they had been bought by Deep Silver over 10 years ago.

 

[KiryuRealty]

Another case of “Go woke, get shut down by the conglomerate that bought you and is trying not to go broke!”