Summary
After the controversialSaints Rowfailed to deliver, the Embracer Group has decided to shut down Volition effectively immediately. After three decades, the developers of theSaints Rowfranchise are no more, and the future of the franchise is in doubt. It is sad to see a studio with such an impressive catalog of titles close down, and it is made even sadder by the fact PlayStation is giving its last game away for free. The studio was apparently not in a strong enough position to keep the franchise going, but its games are still the perfect headliner for PS Plus.
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Fans were very skeptical of theSaints Rowreboot when it was first announced. They wanted to have more adventures withcharacters like Pierce and Shaundi, but Volition had other plans as it wanted to start the series off fresh. The franchise did go a bit off the rails withSaints Row 4andGat Out of Hell,so having a clean slate made sense from a storytelling perspective. However, fans had also grown very attached to the formula thatSaints Row The Thirdcreated, and this reboot seemed to lack the charm of those wackier entries.
Upon release,Saints Rowproved most of the skeptics right. Not only did the story and characters leave much to be desired, but the game was also filled with game-breaking bugs and crashes. It was almost unplayable for a lot of people, and that resulted in some pretty mixed reviews. The game’s polarizing reception seemed to affect the game’s sales, as itfailed to meet the Embracer Group’s full expectations, and that put the future of the franchise in doubt.
After a lengthy DLC roadmap made the experience a bit better, the Embracer Group has decided to close down the studio. It may havemoved Volition from Deep Silver to Gearboxin hopes that it could foster a successful future, but that future will never see the light of day. At the same time, PlayStation is giving away the studio’s final game for free. It may have been a controversial title that ended up closing a studio, but it still seems to be good enough to be offered as a PS Plus monthly game.
Not only did this closure happen right beforeSaints Rowbecame a PS Plus game, but also after it received a Steam launch and the majority of its post-launch content. The game is apparently good enough to receive all of that content, butVolition was still forced to shut downafter three decades. Even though fans may not have loved the game, the once-beloved studio deserved more, and flaunting theSaints Rowreboot everywhere just makes the entire situation feel worse.
Saints Rowis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
