Saints Row developer Volition has said its farewells as Embracer Group has closed it down in its ongoing restructuring plan. Volition only very recently enjoyed a monumental achievement as it celebrated its 30th anniversary but sadly, it appears this will be its last. The company had originally been called Parallax Software Corporation but then changed its name to Voliton in 1996. Things seemed fairly stable for the company for a few more years until the 2000s when a rollercoaster ride began which has now finally ended.
Per VGC:
“The studio was acquired by THQ in 2000, and when THQ went bankrupt in 2012 it was then acquired by Koch Media and placed under its Deep Silver label. Koch (now known as Plaion) was then acquired by Embracer Group in 2018.”
Farewell from Volition
Volition posted the following message on Thursday on its news page.
Volition additionally posted a deeply more formal message about its closing on its social media page.
Embracer Group’s Rise and Fall
While the mixed, at best, reception for the last Saints Row game may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, Volition is far from being the only casualty of Embracer Group’s ongoing restructuring plan. Just as Embracer Group has closed down this studio it was only a few weeks ago that it announced another’s closing which had just been formed to develop a new game. This too was just another announced measure to reduce the conglomerate’s debt as it had also announced even more layoffs back in June.
Embracer Group has been spending billions of dollars in acquiring studios from around the world since 2022. The Swedish-based company seemed, at some point, too big to fail, but like many banks and other companies, has found that it too has limitations that need to be observed. In early 2022 it had 115 game studios in 40 countries that comprised of over 12,500 employees. At this point though, being in the Embracer Group could feel a bit scary for a number of studios as more continue to get closed down.