Today publisher Deep Silver took to X (formerly Twitter) to follow up on the announcement of the closure of Saints Row developer Volition.
The publisher mentioned (perhaps with dubious timing) that the Saints Row and Red Faction IPs will live on under the umbrella of its parent company, Plaion.
Our thoughts go out to everyone at @DSVolition, past and present. We're incredibly grateful for their unforgettable work on Saints Row and Red Faction, whose IPs will live on at @PLAION
In the meanwhile, Volition itself released an extensive statement on its closure to say farewell to the fans, which you can read below in its entirety.
Thirty years of making games. There are only a handful of studios in the industry that have been around for 30 years, and we took a lot of pride over Volition being one of them. Volition has been around long enough that some folks forget what we made, but they certainly know our games. Refrains such as, "Volition made Descent?!", or "Volition made FreeSpace?!", or "Volition made that Summoner RPG with that hilarious video?!" are not uncommon. Sometimes its easier to remember the games more than the studio that built them, especially for those that have been around as long as we have. But all good things come to an end, and so it is with Volition. After 30 years Volition has closed, and we wanted to say a few final words.
To start, we know there wouldn't be a studio without the people in it. While it may sound cliched, as those who have worked at Volition can attest, it truly is a huge family. Volition started with a team that had a vision for how to make the kinds of games others couldn't and infused that confidence throughout the entire company. We assembled an incredibly talented group of artists, storytellers, and creators who together built a culture that attracted top quality people who truly cared for each other. Time progressed, people naturally came and went (and very often returned again!), but the people were always what made Volition truly special. Do all developers feel the same? We know they do, but in this case there truly was a unique culture of people that cared about each other like family, combined with the will to create some of the most unique games ever created. Thank you so much to every Volitionite who has ever worked here. You are all what made this the magical place it was to work at, and we can never say enough about how much you have meant to us over these 30 years.
Beyond our developmentfamily, we also wouldn't have a studio without our extended family -our community! For 30 years now you have played our games - sometimes you've loved them, sometimes you've been disappointed with them, but you've always been there. We can speak for everyone who has worked at Volition when we say all the hard work and sacrifices we've put into these games have been for you. Over these many years we have enjoyed working on an extremely diverse series of games, and so many of you have come along for that ride. We can't thank you enough for sticking with us throughout all this time. We've loved your enthusiasm every step of the way, even those times when you wish we had (or hadn't!) gone a certain way with a Saints Row or Red Faction or Descent. You are why we kept making these games, and those of us that have been part of the Volition family will be eternally grateful.
Farewell.
Volition's latest game, a reboot of the veteran Saints Row franchise, launched in 2022 and the developer has been hard at work updating it and working on DLC before Embracer decided to shut it down.
The studio debuted 1993 as Parallax Software, releasing Descent and its sequel before it was renamed to Volition in 1996. Since then, it developed plenty of beloved games including the aforementioned Red Faction and Saints Row series.
The studio changed ownership multiple times in the later part of its history, including THQ, Deep Silver, and recently Embracer, via its subsidiary Gearbox Entertainment.
