Volition (company)

Deep Silver Volition, LLC
Volition
Formerly
 Volition, Inc. (1996–2013)
Subsidiary
Industry Video game industry
Founded November 1996 (1996-11)
Founders
  • Mike Kulas
  • Matt Toschlog
Headquarters Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
Key people
 Jim Boone (development director)
Products
Number of employees
 170 (2017)
Parent
Website dsvolition.com

Deep Silver Volition, LLC (formerly Volition, Inc.), doing business as Volition, is an American video game developer based in Champaign, Illinois. The company was created when two companies split from Parallax Software: Volition and Outrage Entertainment, led by Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog, in November 1996.[1]

History

When Interplay Entertainment was the publisher, Volition developed the FreeSpace series of space simulation video games. When Interplay tumbled towards bankruptcy, Volition was acquired by THQ in September 2000.[2] Volition has developed several acclaimed titles including the Red Faction series, the Summoner series, The Punisher, and the Saints Row series.

Insane, a game developed in collaboration with Guillermo del Toro was announced at 2010 Spike Video Game Awards but Volition's version of the game was cancelled in 2012.

When THQ filed for bankruptcy, a number of companies showed interest in the assets of THQ.[3] General manager of Volition, Dan Cermak said that Warner Bros., Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Deep Silver, and an unnamed group undertook site visits in the weeks preceding the sale.[4] Volition was acquired by Koch Media for 22.3 million USD.[5] The only other bid was 5.4 million USD by Ubisoft.[4]

Volition was the second most expensive THQ asset sold during the auction (after Relic Entertainment). The price was understood to be largely due to the success of games such as Saints Row: The Third, which by early 2012 had sold around 4 million copies. THQ also claimed that the game's downloadable content packages were performing much better than anticipated.[6]

Due to THQ's bankruptcy in January 2013, Volition and the Saints Row franchise were acquired by Koch Media, with future titles being published under its Deep Silver brand.[7] Volition's Red Faction and Summoner franchises were not acquired with the company by Deep Silver, instead being acquired by video game publisher and developer Nordic Games.

On September 27, 2017, following the release of Agents of Mayhem, Kotaku reported that Deep Silver had laid off over 30 employees including managing director Dan Cermak,[8] who was replaced by Jim Boone as development director on October 9, 2017.[9]

Games developed

References

  1. ↑ Hanson, Ben (March 30, 2011). "The Secret History of Volition". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on June 26, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  2. ↑ "THQ Acquires Volition in Stock Transaction". Los Angeles Times. September 12, 2000. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012.
  3. ↑ "The Break Up - Bankrupt THQ's Assets Sold At Auction". Forbes. April 18, 2012. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Volition had six interested buyers - Report". GameSpot. January 30, 2013. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  5. ↑ Ray, Alexa (January 23, 2013). "Koch Media offers $22.3M for Volition and $5.8M for 4A Games' Metro franchise in THQ auction". Polygon. Archived from the original on April 26, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  6. ↑ "THQ's fourth-quarter results got a boost from Saints Row". Destructoid. Archived from the original on April 4, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  7. ↑ "THQ Dissolved, Saints Row, Company of Heroes, Darksiders Devs Acquired". IGN. Archived from the original on July 25, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  8. ↑ Schreier, Jason (September 27, 2017). "Big Layoffs Hit Agents of Mayhem Developer Volition". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 28, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Life after Agents of Mayhem: Where now for Volition?". gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on February 25, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
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