The developer of popular game Saints Row has announced it is shutting down after a reboot of the game series received mixed reviews.
Volition made the announcement on LinkedIn, confirming that the developer's parent company Embracer Group would be closing them down 'effective immediately'.
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The studio is mostly known for the highly successful Saints Row games, which are similar to the Grand Theft Auto series.
However, the open world games departed from GTA by emphasising more wacky and over the top gameplay and stories. The characters eventually became President of the United States and even battled an alien invasions, as well as wielding THAT weapon. If you know you know.
Volition may be known for Saints Row, but is also an historic game studio dating all the way back to the mid 90s. It produced titles such as Descent, Freespace, and Red Faction.
An announcement on social media read: "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.
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"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.
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"You will always be in our hearts."
The closure comes amid a series of other closures and game cancellations from Embracer Group, after a $2 billion deal with an unconfirmed partner fell through.
It was subsequently reported by Axios that the deal had been with Saudi group Savvy Games. This was apparently part of Savvy's plans to invent $38 billion in the gaming industry.
Embracer Group has made a number of big acquisitions in recent years, including Gearbox and Crystal Dynamics. These include big titles in the industry, including Borderlands, Deus Ex, and Tomb Raider.
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Volition was founded in 1993 under the name Parallax Software. They released the Descent series of video games. In 1996 it was renamed as Volition, and produced the Summoner, Red Faction, and Saints Row franchises.
In 2000 it was acquired by THQ, before being sold to Deep Silver in 2017.
Kit Roberts