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Embracer is shutting down Volition (Saints Row). Company issues official statement.

Stupid execs like in the Sony leaks:

By7eeJ4.jpg
Same energy as

30 Rock Fellow Kids GIF by PeacockTV
 
I mean I'm heartbroken in one vein. They made Red Faction and Summoner which are timeless classics. But it's not too unfair to say their quality went down hill over the years. Real shame.
 
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DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Jokes on them, when you tailor your consumer relationship based on the demands of a niche demographic, you'd better pick a demographic that makes enough money to buy the things they constantly bitch about. It was a doomed model from the foundation.

I also love it.
It kinda gives me the same vibes as all these Disney “safe for modern audiences” remakes. Like the people writing it had absolutely no clue who the existing audience is or what made the original good. They see nothing beyond “in-group vs out-group” and “punching up vs punching down”.
 
The studio that made all the games we loved from back in the day has been dead for a long time.

Current Volition is a garbage woke shell of its former glory. So this just feels like a fitting way for Embracer to just take the studio out back and end it. In its current state it didn't deserve to continue.

I hope their hiring managers never get work in the industry again.
 

Bridges

Member
I suspect that we will see a lot of closures from Embracer as time goes on.


Weird to think, it doesn't feel that long ago (even though it was) that Saints Row The Third was a massive release. What the hell happened man. I didn't play the reboot but I'm gonna miss them, I was rooting for a return to form. Maybe someone else will end up with the IP and do it justice
 
I'd bet the modern state of Volition was yet another example of a once great developer Ship of Theseus'ing itself through staff turnover into something incompetent. There might be a 30 year legacy of games to the company's name but it stops being meaningful when only a handful of people there even contributed to them.
I feel like nearly every dev studio goes through this unless the well known lead director/lead dev says that they have a protégé and introduce that person, like what Shinji Mikami recently did with John Johanas. People should keep that guy's name in mind because that one Hi-Fi Rush reveal video basically said the message loud and clear. All they were missing was a physical torch being passed.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
It kinda gives me the same vibes as all these Disney “safe for modern audiences” remakes. Like the people writing it had absolutely no clue who the existing audience is or what made the original good. They see nothing beyond “in-group vs out-group” and “punching up vs punching down”.

Exactly. And it's not like all the talking points are lost on me, either. I know full-well that franchises can and do experience fatigue, stagnation, etc. Even the passage of time, as is clear in this case. Over a long enough period of time, even the most sturdy company/developer/publisher/game/movie will have shed 100% of it's original crew and creative minds. People quit, move on, get fired, go to prison, die.

The woke crowd commonly conflate "not wanting every piece of media to be a sermon or a purity test," with "we want DDD cup sized nudist Klan member protagonists in a game about cleansing the world," Like...I'll always use TLOU as an example, ironically as it sounds. You can have the most woke staff, the most enabling people in your corner, have a lesbian protagonist, a gay side character, a black sibling pair, what the fuck ever - and if it's written well, is engaging, polished, and has character traits like sexual orientation as a way to inform and add depth to the character instead of being used as a holy bludgeon - I'll play the shit out of it.

People sniff out propaganda. If you have a strong belief or point of view about something, write a fucking narrative that weaves that into something that's so interesting and innovative that people outside of the target demographic indulge in it. The majority of us aren't worker ant Nazis, we just expect more from the industry than a $70 PSA on feefees and heckin validation.
 

Fbh

Member
On a human level it obviously sucks that a lot of people are out of a job, specially since most of them weren't involved with the decision making at the studio.

On a gaming level...nothing of value was lost. These guys have spent the last 10 years releasing mediocre games.
They had a chance for a comeback with the latest Saint's Row but they wasted it, and from what I remember they themselves wanted make this "modern" version of it so there's no one else to blame.
 

StueyDuck

Banned
While most of us hated the wokeness and the way they seemed to hate their own fans, we mustn't forget that saints woke also launched in a disastrous state and was full of bugs and problems around launch.

The game was also a mediocre mess even without the hate the game rightfully garnered. Overall it was a shit a product through and through.

It's also worth remembering that outside of a few figureheads, the studio probably had so much turnaround and shakeups for them to go from saints 4 to saints woke. The real talent probably left the studio years ago and we shouldn't be too upset that the less talented got the axe.

Actually the worry now should be what other studios are they going to go polute and destroy
 

Barakov

Member
of course, they changed it because the people changed. "Volition" is just a name on the building. It's not magic. You change the people working there you change the studio.

famous last words:

CNFIuxS.jpg
Yeah, it shouldn't need to be said but probably a bad idea to piss off your fanbase. Also, the person running the saints row twitter should've been fired right on the spot after those tweets.
 
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On a human level it obviously sucks that a lot of people are out of a job, specially since most of them weren't involved with the decision making at the studio.

If you're talking about the support staff like studio secretary and payroll folks, then yeah.

But if you're talking designers, writers, directors, art directors, animators, programmers, etc etc... in studios like this they tend to have really flat management, and often creative decisions are made as a team. So the majority absolutely would have had influence over the direction this Saint's Row went in.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
I used to post on this obscure message board for a band that wasn't even around anymore, Shiner. One of the guys from Volition posted there too. He actually got some obscure music tracks placed in the earlier Saint's Row games (Shiner, The Life and Times). Never played any of the games though.

Wonder if that guy still worked there? Hope they all land on their feet.
 
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Laptop1991

Member
Doesn't surprise me and i'm not sad about it after their attitude and replies to fans, i wanted to buy and play the game and all they had to do was make it like 2 or 3 for me, but as others have pointed out, they wern't the same people at Volition and it's been 12 years since Saint's Row 3, they were mostly dead in all but name anyway, i did play SR4, it was ok, but lost something for me with the superpowers.
 
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Neon Xenon

Member
As much as I've liked Volition's past work like Descent, FreeSpace 1 & 2, Red Faction, and Saints Row up to a point, the last few years have not played out well for them. Really, I'm disappointed, but not surprised at all.

I don't envy anyone being tasked with rebooting Saints Row. That series, the particular tone and humor that was established with Saints Row: The Third, for better or worse, is what it was known for. A reboot was eventually going to happen, and I had a feeling that what they would show just wouldn't satisfy fans. Stick with what people knew and liked Saints Row for, or try to appeal to more "modern" standards. Looking back on the initial reveal trailer and the very negative reactions to that, Volition just made the wrong call. Or maybe the spirit that was responsible for past Saints Row games just wasn't there by the time they did get around to putting together the reboot. Those tweets responding to the reactions definitely didn't help.

I do think it's interesting watching the attempts at being "current" from various pieces of media just falling flat on their faces like how the Saints Row reboot did. Maybe people will take lessons from this. Probably not.
 

Roni

Gold Member
So many seniors and leads don't have the first clue what they're doing, making decisions based on feelings and wishful thinking. What sucks the most is that hierarchical structures often mean you can't do shit but sit and watch it all crumble.

I say this at my company all the time and I'm considered annoying for it: you either take a stand while you still can within the company against bad actors in a leading position or the entire institution goes to shit eventually.

Shame this also applies to civilization itself.
 
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Fox Mulder

Member
What a shame. I loved Red Faction Guerilla and early Saints Row was fun when Rockstar got more serious in tone with GTA IV. The over the top goofy sequels had their charm and were fun.

I wondered the other day if flops with agents of mayhem and the saints row reboot would put them in the ground.
 

EDMIX

Member
Sad, I know many will jump to the neckbeard "derr da game be woke" but to my understanding..

1. Its a create a character game, make your own fucking character, I don't buy that the sales had to do with people too fucking dumb to realize YOU create the character lol
2. This team was sold in the past, as in the Saint's Row titles where not even doing good enough under the last publisher, to pretend this has to do with some woke this or woke that is a bit silly, they've had issues for some time.
3. Embracer already stated they were closing down studios based on some restructuring, they closed down the Campfire studio earlier this month even with no project being put out lol
https://gamerant.com/embracer-group-shut-down-studios-campfire-cabal/

So it sucks to see it happen, but this is business as usual.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
Sad, I know many will jump to the neckbeard "derr da game be woke" but to my understanding..

1. Its a create a character game, make your own fucking character, I don't buy that the sales had to do with people too fucking dumb to realize YOU create the character lol
2. This team was sold in the past, as in the Saint's Row titles where not even doing good enough under the last publisher, to pretend this has to do with some woke this or woke that is a bit silly, they've had issues for some time.
3. Embracer already stated they were closing down studios based on some restructuring, they closed down the Campfire studio earlier this month even with no project being put out lol
https://gamerant.com/embracer-group-shut-down-studios-campfire-cabal/

So it sucks to see it happen, but this is business as usual.
You determined your character's appearance but it doesn't change anything about the plot being a gentrified zoomer power fantasy about a purposely diverse group of youngsters building a brutal criminal empire to pay rent and student loans because capitalism is bad. That was too many degrees removed from what made fans of the series fans in the first place.

Whining about anything being "woke" is pretty silly, even this game. But this was a bad Saints Row game. If they had named it something else they might have been more successful. But there's little doubt that this turd of a Saints Row game was their coffin nail. If they had made a Saints Row game that people wanted and was pulling in revenue they likely would have survived this restructuring.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
It's also worth remembering that outside of a few figureheads, the studio probably had so much turnaround and shakeups for them to go from saints 4 to saints woke. The real talent probably left the studio years ago and we shouldn't be too upset that the less talented got the axe.

Actually the worry now should be what other studios are they going to go polute and destroy
And that’s the thing about gaming. That studio logo can mean absolutely nothing. But the company hopes the branding holds up.

It’s like Bioware. The studios grassroots games are PC RPGs 20-25 years ago but I don’t think any of those core founder guys have been there in over 10 years. And when people on forums compare modern games to baldyrs gate 1998 I think, of course it’s different.

Media is a total 180 than other industries because the creative product can swing wildly from one game to the next depending who is in charge and who is working on the game. It’s like going from PS2 era EA NHL games to 360 era. It was night and day. Ignore the graphics improvement. The tone, look and gameplay went from arcadey cannonball bonus points getting 200 pts for scoring goals to a more serious tone with a professional aesthetic. And no stupid bells ringing or pop ups.

In other industries the company and department employees can change a lot but the core product is going to be pretty similar since most aren’t creative types of things. Oreo cookies has line extensions here and there but the core product is the same kind of thing for 50 years despite endless turnover of people working on the brand and R&D.
 

Eotheod

Member

This is what happens when you piss of the majority of your fanbase.

TZuqX2i.gif


Reminds me of the Battlefield devs.


When will these f******* learn?? If you don't deliver what the majority wants people won't buy your games.🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️
Most of the vocal community want things that would translate horribly into a game and would then complain about said quality anyway. That, or they demand games to be of a specific quality while also being developed within two years maximum because of short attention spans.
 

anthraticus

Banned
Could you imagine going from stuff like Freespace 2, The Summoner games, The Punisher (play this uncensored!) and Saints Row 2...

...to that new Woke Row abomination

magsb6W.jpg


SAD
 
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theclaw135

Banned
Most of the vocal community want things that would translate horribly into a game and would then complain about said quality anyway. That, or they demand games to be of a specific quality while also being developed within two years maximum because of short attention spans.

Sorry I went too far earlier, but I have a negative view of the group ridiculing this news.
 

EDMIX

Member
You determined your character's appearance but it doesn't change anything about the plot being a gentrified zoomer power fantasy about a purposely diverse group of youngsters building a brutal criminal empire to pay rent and student loans because capitalism is bad. That was too many degrees removed from what made fans of the series fans in the first place.

Whining about anything being "woke" is pretty silly, even this game. But this was a bad Saints Row game. If they had named it something else they might have been more successful. But there's little doubt that this turd of a Saints Row game was their coffin nail. If they had made a Saints Row game that people wanted and was pulling in revenue they likely would have survived this restructuring.

lolz, I mean shit you literally described pretty much that whole series.

So..I'm sorry, but a lot of the shit you guys complained about this game sounds pretty much made up and exaggerated to an almost hilarious degree. I think the series in general is pretty bad, did you guys just fucking forget the low sales and the last publisher they were under doing poorly or?

So the fact that the series was rebooted very much means it wasn't some MASSIVE IP in the first place.

Even all the fucking shit many thought was "koolz" in the original games was cringe as fuck.
 
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