‘Saints Row’ Developer Volition Shuts Down

After operating as a major developer for thirty years, Volition, the development team responsible for both Saints Row and Red Faction, has been shut down. The full message was posted to the company’s LinkedIn page on Thursday, detailing the reasons behind Embracer Group choosing to shut the studio down.

It’s difficult not to think that part of this doesn’t come down to Embracer Group failing to secure a two billion dollar deal — information revealed back in June. Following that, the company discussed the need to restructure to become “leaner” and made it clear they would be shutting down studios and canceling games to save money.

Volition, whose recent Saints Row remake and Agents of Mayhem titles were considered underperformers both critically and commercially, seems to be the first major casualty in Embracer’s promise to “become leaner.”  It’s unfortunate to see any storied developer like this go, and hopefully all of the people at the developer will be able to land on their feet elsewhere.

As for Embracer Group, it’s difficult to see this news and not criticize a company that always seemed to have one plan: more. For years now, everything Embracer did seemed to be about buying more studios and finding more IP, with the publisher collecting them seemingly just because they could. Now their haphazard purchasing strategy has cost dozens of people their jobs. Put simply, this sucks.