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Embracer closes Volition developer of Freespace, Red Faction, Saints Row

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Well, there goes another big industry name. Embracer Group, who currently own a stupidly vast portfolio of developers and publisher has shut down Volition.

The news was shared by Volition on their LinkedIn that reads:

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 as a leader 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.

A shame to see such a name shut. That said, their latest release with the Saints Row reboot didn't exactly gain recognition. It also caused Volition to move under Gearbox. Embracer themselves said that Saints Row had "left the fanbase partially polarized" although the game had "performed in line with management expectations in the quarter".

This won't be the last getting shut, as Embracer previously announced a comprehensive restructuring program.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Misc
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26 comments
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lukas333 Aug 31, 2023
That Saints Row game was really average at best, but still...
Soulprayer Aug 31, 2023
I just hate games with criminal intent.
I've enjoyed SR3+4 and the musical standalone game very much because the excuse being a movie (or musical in hell) was something I could live with.
I didn't see any excuse in SR reboot in trailers.
pb Aug 31, 2023
Quoting: EhvisTo be fair, you can have all kinds of thoughts on the closing down of a studio. But Volition hasn't really produced anything noteworthy for a decade. And after SR reboot, what reason was there to keep sticking with it? At some point keeping it open becomes charity.

Hopefully they sacked the management and redirected talented staff to other companies, at least those who wanted to stay.
Termy Sep 1, 2023
QuoteThat said, their latest release with the Saints Row reboot didn't exactly gain recognition.

Well, what a surprise.

Still a shame though.
eldarion Sep 1, 2023
In memory of the old Volition, that gave us Freespace 1 and 2, still some of the finest first person space dogfight games.
--RIP Volition

I'm starting a new playthrough with FsOpen today.
Lanz Sep 1, 2023
Part of the problem here is that what we're seeing is corporatism. Capitalism is supposed to be regulated such that a free market always exists. There are antitrust laws that are supposed to be enforced.

Somewhere along the line, politicians started taking "campaign contributions" from "special interest groups" rather than doing their job, and now it's almost a rarity to see antitrust action taken or really anything done other than cronyism. We already live in the post-capitalist world, and that's the reason we see so much corruption. We are letting corporations and special interests operate above the law and we are not holding politicians to account.
nwildner Sep 1, 2023
"performed in line with management expectations in the quarter" Mean: "we're not taking our fanbase opinion seriously and we're heading whatever the f**k management wants".

That's a true recipe for disaster on any project, trying to please management instead of it's users.
Frawo Sep 1, 2023
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An Epic exclusive that didn't pay off? Interesting...
Purple Library Guy Sep 1, 2023
Quoting: LanzPart of the problem here is that what we're seeing is corporatism. Capitalism is supposed to be regulated such that a free market always exists. There are antitrust laws that are supposed to be enforced.

Somewhere along the line, politicians started taking "campaign contributions" from "special interest groups" rather than doing their job, and now it's almost a rarity to see antitrust action taken or really anything done other than cronyism. We already live in the post-capitalist world, and that's the reason we see so much corruption. We are letting corporations and special interests operate above the law and we are not holding politicians to account.
This is true but at the same time it is a misunderstanding. You're imagining some "normal" capitalist situation that this is a departure from. In reality, the stuff you're talking about is normal. It was the strong regulatory government that was the aberration.

Experiments with strong restrictions on capital for the broader economic and public good happened because of the Great Depression and massive popular movements from below, because of the massive upheaval of WW II, and because of the Cold War presenting the practical threat of a different model (It turned out not to be that great a model, but that wasn't always clear, and it meant our elites had to offer a deal that was clearly better than that other one seemed like it might be). Once those shocks went away, we started gradually returning to the pre-Depression status quo, characterized by very high inequality and lots of poverty with crap wages at the bottom.

Regulated, social democratic capitalism with strong unions is a system that really works quite well. Unfortunately, it is unstable and very difficult to maintain for long because it leaves capitalists ultimately holding the big levers of power, and with strong motivation to break it. So they do.
Purple Library Guy Sep 1, 2023
Quoting: nwildner"performed in line with management expectations in the quarter" Mean: "we're not taking our fanbase opinion seriously and we're heading whatever the f**k management wants".

That's a true recipe for disaster on any project, trying to please management instead of it's users.
Normally I'd agree with you, but considering they're canning them I think in this case it just means "We're sacking these guys, no need to be rude as well".
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