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Embracer Group Interim Report: Dead Island 2 Delayed to April 28th - Saints Row Underperformed - Volition Becoming Part of Gearbox Studios

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?

The reduced forecast for the financial year 2022/23 reflects a mixed reception to some of the key second quarter PC/console releases, estimated to impact catalog sales in the coming quarters, shifts in the PC/console pipeline, including Dead Island 2, now planned for release April 28, and a more cautious view on the current macroeconomic situation, particularly related to the Mobile Games and Tabletop Games segments.
The reception of Saints Row did not meet the full expectations and left the fanbase partially polarized. The game development studio, Volition, has been working hard to improve the player experience. Financially, Saints Row has performed in line with management expectations in the quarter.
Going forward, Volition will transition to become part of Gearbox..... This is the first internal group transfer where we transfer a major studio between operative groups, but it is not necessarily the last.
 
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Kagey K

Banned
More delays..

Season 5 What GIF by The Office


It's only MS though.
 
The people who wrote Saints Row 2022 will be absorbed into the people who wrote Borderlands 3. They will soon write the worst writing ever written, if they haven't already done so. Maybe it will be a tie.
 
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Thief1987

Member
Flubbed the topic title, asked a mod to fix it.

But the biggest news here is that Volition is being 'given' to Gearbox (as a support studio). So, looks like no more Volition led games from here onward.
I can see a plenty of moves like this in the future tbh. Many of their smaller studios will become just apprentices of the more succesful ones.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Who didn't see that coming @ Saints Row?

These people are incredibly out of touch and it's sickening.
Amazing since out of all the industries out there, you'd think video games would be the easiest one to satisfy gamers. Not in terms of quality or bad netcode killing the game, but at least for general requests and feedback from vocal gamers across the net. It;s like you dont even need to spend shit loads of money hiring AC Nielsen to do focus group tests that lasts 6-12 months and costs $100,000 like how big companies do for new flavours of foods.

Just round up info and gamer sentiment from the net or forums from their own game site what to do, fix or change. Its free info. You dont have to give away secret plots or anything.

It's like half the time game makers make games that bomb due to gamers not caring for setting or characters, the company did zero research and just did what they wanted assuming gamers will just like what they make.
 
Really want to feel bad about Volition folding but they haven’t been what they once were in forever.

Seems like a good addition to Gearbox these days, just keep adding more and more shit to the pile and I’ll continue to not buy it.
 

HL3.exe

Member
Nobody here sad that the Volition legacy stops here? Didn't play their latest because it never looked great, and they not necessarily made my all-time favorite games, but Volition had quite some history.
  • Descent
  • Red Faction
  • Freespace
  • The Punisher
  • Saints Row
Etc. Pour one out for Volition!
pouring-one-out-crying.gif
 
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joshwaan

Member
Sucks for the delay. Really looking forward to Dead Island 2. Not played the new Saints Woke row heard its not as bad as they say.
 
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Thank God for the Dead Island 2 delay, February is stacked to high heaven as is, April seems *perfect*, I'm sure they'll maximize sales potential and have more conversation around the game 👌
 
I think he's implying what killed the latest Saint's Row game's momentum was the aesthetic and the character designs, and not the fact that the game was shipped with bugs, missing features, and undercooked gameplay on release.
How about all of the above? Trying to pretend the shitty ass writing and "fellow kids" vibe wasn't a major factor in the game's failure is just goofy.
 

YuLY

Member
For anyone lamenting what happened to Volition, this wasnt the same Volition anymore. This wasnt the same company that brought us Red Faction 1 + Guerilla, The Punisher, Saints Row 1-3. After the 3rd game, a lot of key people left and I imagine a lot of woke university grads came (by the looks of agents of mayhem and SR reboot).

I will forever love the 2001-2011 Volition, I even liked Red Faction Armageddon, with its insane destruction physics, but I think this is for the best. The company was a shell of it's former self.
 

YCoCg

Member
Sucks to see Volition go, whoever was running things during the Saints Row reboot really screwed the pooch. You'd think a new open world crime game since GTAV would be a sure hit.
 

ToTTenTranz

Banned
So they really did manage to blow themselves up.

With Saints Row, of all things. Yay for "adapting to modern audiences".
"Polarized reception" is now the official euphemism for "people hated it"?

The whole thing felt like watching a driver accelerate towards a wall, people telling him he's going into a wall and instead of hitting the brakes or trying to turn, the dude just kept on accelerating forward.
 
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Umbasaborne

Banned
The first of many february games that will get pushed. This happens every year. When a game is delayed out of a year into the following february, the date almost never sticks. The reason they say february is to appease investors, even if they known they need more time
 
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hinch7

Member
Well RIP Saints Row and Volition I guess. Gearbox is a trash studio.

Can't say its wasn't deserved.. they self destroyed themselves with that awful SR entry. Failed to listen to its audience and even actively mocked its previous customers and userbase. What were they thinking tbh.. SR reboot is like the real life equivalent of The Simpsons Poochie.
 
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YuLY

Member
Gearbox is a trash studio.
Maybe hot take, but the only really good game they ever made was Borderlands 2. First was decent at the time, 3rd is destroyed by the writing. Aliens Colonial Marines...lel. Whats left...Brothers in Arms? lets be honest, they were ok games, personally I believe they havent aged well, I tried playing the last one a few months ago and couldnt stand the clunky controls and uninstalled (regardless if they were intended for TaCtIcAl reasons).

Yea in my book they only made one really good game, the second Borderlands. Meanwhile they let good IPs like Duke and Bulletstorm go to waste.
 

hinch7

Member
Maybe hot take, but the only really good game they ever made was Borderlands 2. First was decent at the time, 3rd is destroyed by the writing. Aliens Colonial Marines...lel. Whats left...Brothers in Arms? lets be honest, they were ok games, personally I believe they havent aged well, I tried playing the last one a few months ago and couldnt stand the clunky controls and uninstalled (regardless if they were intended for TaCtIcAl reasons).

Yea in my book they only made one really good game, the second Borderlands. Meanwhile they let good IPs like Duke and Bulletstorm go to waste.
Yeah was never fond of their games outside of BL 1+2. The second being the much better, fleshed out title. The releases after that have been passable, to downright awful.

Also wasn't a fan of how they managed Duke Nukem and their grievances with 3D Realms. As someone who loved DN games as a franchise its such a shame to see an IP go to complete waste.
 
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