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.
Discussion (9 replies)
Join Discussion →That's too bad other than the latest installment I enjoyed that series.
Embracer also killed my love Deus Ex, poor franchise :( It's really a travesty, hate them
Square Enix shut down Deus Ex long before Embracer acquired the rights. If anything the acquisition should be hope for an actual new Deus Ex.
The only thing they killed was the abomination mobile game. So good on them.
But the latest instalment is the one representative of "current day" volition, and based on that this is as justified as can be for a closure.
I remember when EG started making its big moves and had hoped it would become a more positive contributor in the gaming ecosystem versus the antics we've seen with EA and Ubisoft, but sad to say they are becoming more like corporate parasites feeding off the IPs they managed to gobble up with studio purchases.
c'est la vie
I don't see how is this EG's fault? Volition was left to their own devices, and the end result was disastrous.
They didn't even announce any game from the IPs they recently acquired. It's just assumed that a new Tomb Raider is in the works.
I agree that Volition wasn't helping itself but EG grew too quickly and in the last 12 months been chucking folks overboard at an unnerving pace. I linked to a number of references regarding that in the post and even if those studios had similar problems before hand I still feel its a sad state to watch a company get bought out only to be shut down right after.
Hmm..
From what I've seen, EG mostly tends to leave studios alone, which is good. But if you don't perform, you get the axe. Maybe they have grown to the point they can afford to be a bit more exacting with their standards, but I guess as a Developer looking at a big cash buyout offer you need to realize the first mis-step and it's likely to shut your studio down.
If you want to maintain control of your own destiny, you stay indie. If you want a big paycheck, you accept the strings that come with it. The bad part here is the rank and file don't get a say - they are either along for the ride or they find a new ride - no big payout for them or anything, just punching the timeclock. But that isn't any different than any other industry.
Yes they have stretched themselves too thin. They went on a buying frenzy then as the economy turned they realized they need money.