Those who hoped for something to help them these years until GTA VI is here might have high hopes about the rebooted Saints Row, but the game didn’t live up to the expectations. And this is quite lightly put, given the response of the publisher. Now the developer of the game, Volition, loses its standalone status and gets transferred under the control of a fellow studio Gearbox.
To understand the importance of the transfer, one has to visualize the structure of a gaming giant named Embracer Group. This Swedish company owns quite a list of publishing and developing structures, including Gearbox and Koch Media, the German company that was acquired in 2018 together with its subsidiaries – Deep Silver and (thus) Volition. Isn’t this world harder to comprehend than that of Santo Ileso gangs?
Well, Saints Row used to be quite a good property to resurrect, but the game released in 2022 was rated as “barely playable”. Commercially, it was one of the biggest flops of 2022. This disaster led Embracer Group to reviewing Volition’s status within its structure. Now it gets under the wings of Gearbox which is also now a part of Embracer’s empire.
Hardly it should be taken as a punishment, though; the company rather sees it as an urgent resurrecting measure. Under Gearbox, the braincenter behind Half-Life, Borderlands, or Duke Nukem, has also had some solid successes in recent years, including Borderlands 3, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and others. Gearbox is meant now to lead Volition’s effort, and, though it has also had its share of mixed-or-average’s, Embracer is sure the restructuring will positively affect Volition.
Have you played this ill-fated Saints Row of 2022? DO you think it’s really such a disaster? And do you hope further games by Volitions will benefit from supervision by Gearbox? Tell us your opinion in the comments!
