As reported by VGC, Embracer Group revealed in its recent earnings call that Volition, the developer behind Saints Row, will be transitioned from Plaion (former Koch Media) to Gearbox as a result of the disappointing launch of the recent Saints Row reboot.
Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors indicated that despite the fact that the Saints Row reboot is financially in line with management expectations for the quarter, the game disappointed the fanbase, which is the main reason why the company has decided to move the studio to a new development group.
The reception of Saints Row did not meet the full expectations and left the fanbase partially polarized,” said Wingefors. “The game development studio, Volition, has been working hard to improve the player experience. Financially, Saints Row has performed in line with management expectations in the quarter. Going forward, Volition will transition to become part of Gearbox which has all the tools, including an experienced management team in the US, to create future success at Volition.”
Wingefors revealed that it is the first internal transition for a major studio from one group to another, but it won’t be necessarily the last one. This is probably hinting at the possibility of transition for the company’s other studios in the case of poor performance.
Embracer Group officially acquired Gearbox back in 2021. Gearbox has been pretty successful with its latest launches including Borderlands 3 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, but it remains unknown how Volition would operate under Randy Pitchford’s vision.
Recently, Volition revealed that a November 2022 update for Saints Row is on the way, which will add over 200 fixes and quality-of-life improvements. According to the shared details, the update is supposed to fix some major issues in the game for now, but it is not going to change the core experience.
Saints Row received a 4 out of 10 in DualShockers review, mostly criticized due to its shallow gameplay design and a world that lacks enough depth. Volition revealed that the upcoming update will make police and pedestrians spawn more often in the game, making the world much more alive.