There goes Volition

Pour one out

You know, for some reason I have a distinct memory of already making this blog a while ago; but I guess that was just me assuming that this was going to happen back when it became shudderingly clear that the absolute nose dive of Saints Row 2022 was going to be a bigger deal than anyone in the company of Volition was willing to admit. Honestly I bet an arguement could be made that such a disconnect could have poisoned the well of opportunity for Volition a while back. Perhaps back when they were purchased by The Embracer Group and took the spur to try and make AAA games by modern scale despite their trailing string of disappointments in previous projects. Although who doesn't want to keep striking bigger and better than thier last game? Maybe the fault lies on Embracer's doorstep for being a shadowy 'overseer' rather than an active producer. And maybe the fault lies with the audience for clowning on them too hard for a game that, in all honesty, was just mediocre- not the worst thing ever made. (I'll admit some responsibility there.)

But if you don't know then let us be clear and open with one another. Volition is dead. That storied developer has been shut down and dissolved 'effective immediately' with the last three games in their legacy receiving progressively worse reception until the colossal failure of Saints Row (2022) which was budgeted at 100 Million apparently. A number I struggle to comprehend considering how aggressively average and unambitious the game was as a reboot. I can only assume there was a lack of insightful leadership to blame, because the delivered project failed to capture the grandeur of their 'biggest project yet', and I suppose that same perception reflected with their paymasters who failed to see the value in keeping them around.

Although in their defence, having a paymaster like Embracer is probably something of a curse in itself. I've said it before but the Embracer Group exists as a shadowy spectre of bottomless wallet boardroom members lording over the world of the entertainment industry as money-resplendent gods. They're not a proper office of meddling producers, and for some I assume that level of freedom is a blessing to work under, but for others having no oversight is just a recipe for disaster. Take 'Redfall', for example. It was a project that was going nowhere fast, but the intentional lack of oversight that Xbox granted them meant no one of a senior position was capable of looking over the mess and making the hard decision to just cancel the whole thing- resulting in a mess of a title landing. Seems a similar fate befell poor Volition and they ended up paying for their freedom with their company.

And their legacy: because contrary to popular belief- Volition used to be bigger than just 'the Saints Row guys'! There was a time, very long ago, when they created some truly incredible titles that put the scale and scope of contemporary projects on notice. I'm, of cause, talking about Red Faction and the insane destruction engine present in 'Guerrilla' that some argue hasn't been replicated in any game since. The actual meat of that game was based in revolutionary rip and destruction tech that allowed players to smash through buildings with all manner of tools and vehicles and explosives, with the only potential successor being the Crackdown 3 game which we never got to play because that project got rebooted into oblivion. I think to this day people were hovering around waiting for a true 'Guerrilla' successor from the people themselves, which will now never come. (Although to be fair, I guess the Volition of the modern age held none of that same staff anyway. Lovers of that franchise mourned it's passing long ago.)

Of course most know Volition for the magnum opus, Saints Row 2: the only game that managed to beat GTA at what they do best. On the verge of the ultra-serious, heavy and arguably joyless narrative of Grand Theft Auto 4, Saints Row was throwing us into a wacky and badass story of revenge, explosive and irreverant antics and pithy one liners before acts of brutal violence. And after them. There was a lot of one liners. That really formed the backbone of what Saints Row was when GTA was on the verge of redefining itself in the other direction. Whilst Rockstar wanted to lean further into the sectors of 'sardony' and 'broad spectrum commentary'- Saints Row wanted to have fun- which resonated with a lot of player around about the time of it's coming.

Of course, then they started to get a little too rich off their own supply and the irreverent badassery of Saints 2 started to give way to the goofiness and soon the series lost every ounce of it's grounded personability- which formed the body of the juxtaposition between the everyday and the extraordinary. Many people still found something to love in Saints Row 3, but personally I saw just a slippery slope leading straight to what Saints Row 4 was: totally desensitised fluff that left no impression longer than it took to put the controller down. Of course, even I couldn't have suspected where they would go next. Not to the horrendously marketed... Agents of Mayhem (I can't believe I still have to look up that name everytime I bring it up) and then... Saints 2022.

I guess the idea was to go 'too big to fail'. But the problem with that is if you do end of failing, it really is the end of everything. Saints 2022 wanted to change everything but go back to it's routes. It wanted to be smart and have a message, whilst keeping itself irreverent and silly. It didn't want to risk offending anyone, but it also wanted to be seen as outrageous as it's predecessors. It was a game designed by committee. (And maybe written by one too) And what resulted was a product without a soul. Then Volition slowly started to peel away as people left. Honestly, the company died long before this moment with the amount of downsizing they had been subject to. This was just the snuffing out of that last light of hope left in the window. The death of possibility. And it sucks.

There are some out there who hold crossed fingers for a 'Telltale' style revival, but I don't see that happening. Too much bad blood left with how their last game burnt all fan bridges, no one is going to want to inherit all of that. As for the franchise of Saints Row being revived? I could see that happening. Far into the future and with a team that looks nothing like the one behind the 2022 disaster. But honestly, I don't think there will be much heartache if the franchise is just left as a relic, glorious in the memory of those who stuck with it. Perhaps the world just moved on from Saints Row and there was no modernising it without losing the heart and fibre of what the franchise even was to begin with. Maybe Saints 2022 needed to be given an even bigger budget to make it's splash! Maybe this is a cautionary reminder to all the world that 'forever' is a myth, and everything- even storied studios- come to an end.