After 30 years, Saints Row developer Volition gets shut down by new owner "effective immediately"

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The studio also developed the Red Faction games

Saints Row
(Image credit: Volition)

Volition, the developer behind the Red Faction and Saints Row series, has shut down.

Earlier today, developers at the studio began tweeting about a "full studio closure." Shortly afterwards, the company issued a statement saying that "this past June, Embracer Group announced a restructuring program to strengthen Embracer and maintain its position as a leader in the video game industry. As part of that program, they evaluated strategic and operation goals and made the difficult decision to close Volition effective immediately."

Founded 30 years ago, Volition is a pretty long-serving studio. It was purchased by the company that would later be known as Embracer Group in February 2018, and transferred to Gearbox (best known for the Borderlands games) after the critical failure of the Saints Row reboot last year.

Embracer made a suite of acquisitions over recent years, but came into financial difficulty after a huge $2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia fell through. It announced the restructuring program earlier this year, and has faced criticism as a result of its economic strategy since then.

Volition's statement goes on to say that the company is working "to provide job assistance and help smooth the transition" for developers. It's not clear what that will mean, but it's certainly possible that some of those affected by the studio's closure will find their way to new jobs within Gearbox or the rest of Embracer Group.

Gearbox just announced the Borderlands Collection: Pandora's Box, and is thought to be working on more games in its loot-shooter series.

Ali Jones
Ali Jones
Managing Editor, News

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.