Volition (company)
By the time the sequel was completed, Toschlog had relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan, with some employees to operate a satellite studio for Parallax.Volition found a new publisher in THQ, which acquired the studio in August 2000 and released the game shortly thereafter.In the subsequent proceedings, Volition and the Saints Row intellectual property (IP) were sold to Koch Media (now Plaion) and became part of the company's Deep Silver label.Volition reconnected with these IPs when Koch Media was acquired by Nordic Games' parent company (later known as Embracer Group) in February 2018.[3] To reach a lower cost-of-living, Toschlog moved from Boston to Champaign, Illinois, where Kulas resided, and the two launched Parallax Software.[3] Shortly thereafter, Apogee dropped the project after it had been in development for seven months, though leaving Parallax with an already funded, functional prototype.[3] Subsequently, while the studio was slowly running out of money, they produced a demo reel of the game and set it as a VHS tape to various publishers.[3] Interplay wished for the studio to develop a "CD-enhanced" version of the game, which would include high-resolution textures, cutscenes and Red Book-quality audio, as well as several new levels.[3] During the development of Descent II, he and three designers moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to open a second office for Parallax.[3] The team were later provided with a development kit for the PlayStation 2, and were tasked with making Summoner a launch title for the console.[11][12] Following a troubled development cycle, Summoner eventually hit the intended release date in October 2000, but shipped in a flawed state that resulted from the technical discrepancies between personal computers and PlayStation 2, between which the studio had to port the game.[3] The publisher suggested that they would create a game around Marvel Comics character Punisher, who had a movie coming up, which the studio agreed to.[3] The development team had excursed to Marvel's film studios and were on set, talking to stage designers and witnessing some of the scenes being shot.[3] At one point, Volition held a design exercise, inviting staff members to submit ideas for a new game.[3] Volition imposed several rules on the game, such as the exclusion of children and the inability to kill the police, so to not generate too much controversy.[3] The team shifted away from developing in wide arrays of genres, instead focusing the entire studio's talent on one design principle: open world.[3] Kulas had wished to return to developing a game centered around destruction, either through Red Faction or through a new intellectual property, now that console hardware had been advanced enough to handle such gameplay.[19] In April 2011, it was announced that Kulas was retiring from the company, effective on May 2, with Cermak taking over his position as general manager.[20][21] The new company went to develop a spiritual successor to Descent named Overload, which was funded through a crowdfunding campaign held on Kickstarter and released in May 2018.[26] As the sale closed, Volition and the Saints Row IP were sold to Koch Media for a total of $22,312,925, and became part of its Deep Silver division.[32] With the purchase of Koch Media by THQ Nordic (now Embracer Group) in February 2018, Volition and their IPs were reunited under one company;[33] responsibility for the Red Faction franchise would be moved directly into Deep Silver in May 2020.[45] In November 2022, after the Saints Row reboot was met with a mixed and "polarized" response from fans, Embracer announced that it would transfer Volition from Deep Silver to Gearbox (which it acquired in 2021) to leverage its resources and expertise.
SubsidiaryVideo gamesChampaign, Illinoisgeneral managerDescentSummonerRed FactionSaints RowAgents of MayhemParentDeep SilverGearbox Entertainmentvideo game developerDescent IIAnn Arbor, MichiganOutrage EntertainmentInterplay EntertainmentFreeSpace 2Saints Row IVbankruptcyintellectual propertyKoch MediaNordic GamesEmbracer GroupSaints Row rebootPlaionprogrammersCar and DriverBostonApogee Softwareid Softwaredemo reelAccoladeTrimark InteractiveInterplay Productionsindustrial designquality assurancecutscenesdesignersreference booksWax Trax! RecordsDescent 4public companyDescent 3role-playing video gamedevelopment kitPlayStation 2launch titlecommon stocknet liabilitiespersonal computersfirst-person shooterSummoner 2Red Faction IIWindowsGameCubeGrand Theft Auto IIIMarvel ComicsPunishervice-presidentflat hierarchyEntertainment Software Rating BoardtorturedesignFuck tha Policeboard roomchief financial officeropen worldXbox 360postmortem documentationsSaints Row 2sandboxSpike Video Game AwardsGuillermo del ToroInsanehorrorspiritual successorOverloadcrowdfundingKickstarterChapter 11 bankruptcyWarner Bros.Electronic ArtsTake-Two InteractiveUbisoftcreative directorHigh Voltage Softwarestudio development directorindie developerreboot of the franchiseGearboxClockwork RevolutionList of Volition gamesGame InformerGamasutraGameSpotGameSpyComputer Games MagazineLos Angeles TimesNeowinEurogamerShacknewsKotakuPolygonGamesIndustry.bizRock Paper ShotgunArs TechnicaEngadgetThe News-GazetteGamesRadar+CisionYouTubeVideo Games ChronicleGames RadarWindows CentralWayback Machinelist of gamesThe PunisherOutrageParallaxGearbox SoftwareBrothers in Arms seriesBorderlands seriesBorderlandsBorderlands 2Legends