Volition Games has shut down as part of Embracer Group’s ongoing restructuring. The studio, which has roots going back to 1993, is behind the Saint’s Row series, Red Faction, and Summoner.
Embracer Group is known for having grown wildly through a series of high-profile acquisitions and IP rights buys over the past several years. In that series of acquisitions, the company came to own or control game and film rights to The Lord of the Rings via its purchase of Middle-earth Enterprises, Dark Horse Comics/Media, and a number of game studios. Among them was Volition, whose last release was the underperforming Saint’s Row reboot released last year. Other companies under Embracer include Gearbox Entertainment, Crystal Dynamics, THQ Nordic, and Deep Silver.
When Embracer Group last reported its financials, they were still seeing growth and profit. Yet, they and later this restructuring plan, they said they were aiming to reduce debt, overhead, and personnel. This would include closures, and potentially, even more layoffs. Embracer Group announced that it would be undergoing some restructuring and pointed to a big deal falling through and its acquisitions as part of the reason why it had decided to take this step in securing the company’s finances and positioning it for the future.
According to CEO Lars Wingefors, “At the same time, the results are not nearly as strong as we expected heading into the year. This is largely due to the PC/Console Games operating segment, which saw solid organic growth but notably lower margins YoY due to pipeline shifts, a lacklustre reception for certain releases, and weaker consumer purchasing power”.
This month, reports emerged that the $2 billion deal that fell through and impacted Embracer Group’s plans was with a Saudi Arabia-backed investment group, Savvy Games Group. The company is a subsidiary of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and backed by the government.
With that deal squashed, Embracer Group has begun a series of layoffs and closures, and Volition is the latest casualty. With this announcement, it is unlikely to be the last cost-cutting measure, so we can anticipate more news of this kind to come.
