REACTION - Embracer’s restructuring of Volition feels like a red flag

Highway to the uncertain zone.

By Jonathan Garrett
18/11/22

The safety net of having creative freedom alongside financial security for a large development team is typically number one on the wishlist for any studio. On the one hand, Embracer’s ownership of Volition has, up until this point, ticked both of those boxes. But after the Saints Row reboot underwhelmed critically and commercially, Embracer have now folded Volition into the Gearbox dev team.

This echoes a similar move by Activision who, after the release of Crash 4, reassigned Toys for Bob as a COD support studio. There is a sense that, much like Toys for Bob, Volition may now lose their autonomy and potentially their individuality as a studio. Their legacy is one of scrappy experiments and surprising sleeper hits; it would therefore be a shame for them to disappear.

Of course, there is a huge amount of assumption at play here. It’s possible that Volition will indeed continue to exist as their own entity, and become more of a subsidiary of Gearbox. For now, they’re continuing to support and improve Saints Row, but their next major project remains unclear.