Volition Games, the studio best known for its work on the Saints Row series, has been closed down “effective immediately” as part of parent company Embracer Group’s previously announced “restructuring” programme.
Volition, which celebrated its 30th anniversary earlier this year, announced the closure in a statement shared on social media, writing, “This past June, Embracer Group announced a restructuring programme to strengthen and maintain its position as a leader in the video game industry. As part of that programme, they evaluated strategic and operational goals and made the difficult decision to close Volition effective immediately.”
The statement adds that Embracer is “working to provide job assistance and help smooth the transition for our Volition family members”. The move is likely to effect around 340 people based on the studio’s most recently shared employment figures.
Today’s news follows a disappointing critical and commercial reception for 2022’s Volition-developed Saints Row reboot, which Embracer admitted “did not meet the full expectations and left the fanbase partially polarised” in a financial update shared last November. Soon after, it announced Volition would become part of Borderlands developer Gearbox.
Since then, Embracer has faced financial challenges, which it partly blamed on Saints Row’s poor reception, leading to the announcement it would be embarking on a “comprehensive restructuring program” involving studio closures and job cuts in June.
Embracer has also previously revealed plans to focus on and “exploit” its Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit licenses “in a very significant fashion” to improve its video games business.
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