Saints Row studio Volition has been shut down

thesixthaxis.com:

Saints Row developer Volition has been shut down with immediate effect, shortly after celebrating its 30th year anniversary. The news follows as parent company Embracer Group restructured its studio portfolio. Volition had already been moved partly before, becoming part of Gearbox in a reshuffle. That was not enough to save the Saints Row and Agents of Mayhem developer though.

A full statement has been released by Volition, and it says, “The Volition team has proudly created world-class entertainment for fans around the globe for 30 years. We’ve been driven by a passion for our community and always worked to deliver joy, surprise, and delight. This past June, Embracer Group announced a restructuring program to strengthen Embracer and maintain its position in the video game industry. As part of that program, they evaluated strategic and operational goals and made the difficult decision to close Volition effective immediately.

To help our team, we are working to provide job assistance and help smooth the transition for our Volition family members. We thank our customers and fans around the world for all the love and support over the years. You will always be in our hearts.”

This follows on from the Saints Row reboot performing poorly critically, though met some management expectations when it came to the financial side. Volition, first known as Parallax Software, was mainly known for its Saints Row franchise in recent memory. Its first game series was Descent followed by FreeSpace. The Red Faction really put the studio on the map, as well as its Summoner games and its brutal The Punisher game. Saints Row is going to be part of the September PlayStation Plus Essential line up, so Plus subscribers can experience what Volition