WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:08.840 Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of GRTV News. Today we're going to 00:08.840 --> 00:11.880 be rounding out the week by talking about something that I really didn't expect to be 00:11.880 --> 00:19.080 talking about today and that's the closure of a rather big and a long-running developer 00:19.080 --> 00:25.320 with that being Volition. Now Volition most recently gave us the Saints Row reboot, the 00:25.320 --> 00:30.040 one that came out, didn't really do particularly well, was kind of flawed with a lot of different 00:30.040 --> 00:34.600 bugs and whatnot and it led to Volition making a lot of promises about, you know, we're gonna 00:34.600 --> 00:38.600 get the game back to the state that we originally promised when we started development. For what 00:38.600 --> 00:43.080 it's worth they've released a ton of different patches and updates and content drops and whatnot 00:43.080 --> 00:48.120 to bolster that game. But it seems like the parent company that owns Volition, Embracer, 00:49.080 --> 00:54.920 isn't particularly bothered by that because, well, they've now decided to close down that 00:54.920 --> 01:00.920 developer, meaning Volition will cease to exist. So with that being the case, let's crack on with the news. 01:02.680 --> 01:08.840 Saints Row developer studio is being shut down. Volition was once one of the many companies on 01:08.840 --> 01:13.320 the brink of extinction when THQ Nordic filed for bankruptcy back in 2012, but Koch Media, 01:13.320 --> 01:17.720 now known as PlayOn, saved them. The developers were then reunited with the Saints Row franchise 01:17.720 --> 01:21.720 when Embracer Group acquired Koch five years later. This resulted in last year's Saints Row 01:21.720 --> 01:26.680 reboot. Again, the Swedish parent company said failed to live up to expectations. Top that with 01:26.680 --> 01:30.200 Embracer confirming it was going to shut down many studios after its deal with the Saudi Arabian 01:30.200 --> 01:34.360 Public Investment Fund fell through and it was only a matter of time before tonight's announcement. 01:34.360 --> 01:38.200 The developers at Volition have confirmed the studio is being shut down by Embracer Group 01:38.200 --> 01:42.840 effective immediately. This means the studio ended up becoming 30 years old and more than 200 01:42.840 --> 01:47.240 developers need to start looking for work tomorrow, so best of luck to you all. We'll see if this at 01:47.240 --> 01:50.520 least gets more people to redeem Saints Row as part of September's PlayStation Plus Essential 01:50.520 --> 01:54.920 Games and with that show Embracer Group whether or not there's still interest for the franchise. 01:58.040 --> 02:03.000 It is rather unusual that Embracer most likely entered into a deal with Sony and PlayStation 02:03.000 --> 02:08.200 to bring Saints Row to that service and then just before the game actually goes live on it 02:08.200 --> 02:12.520 as part of the monthly offering, they closed down the developer behind the game. 02:12.520 --> 02:15.240 Effective immediately as well. There's no, there's no like we're going to close down 02:15.240 --> 02:21.320 Volition by the end of the year. It's gone. Volition's gone. It's shut down. So yeah a lot 02:21.320 --> 02:26.200 to sort of deal with that it's you know the games industry is quite a cutthroat place at times 02:26.200 --> 02:32.600 and well this is just the next example of that. You know Volition has not been particularly 02:33.880 --> 02:39.080 exceptional with its products over the years and yeah the latest Saints Row is the 02:39.080 --> 02:44.040 most recent example of that but you know it's still really upsetting to see you know so many 02:44.040 --> 02:51.240 developers and so many individuals out of work and well yeah having to find new jobs now that 02:51.240 --> 02:55.880 Embracer's decided not to to go any further with this developer but you know again Embracer did 02:55.880 --> 03:01.320 say they're going to close down studios following that deal falling through so Volition has been the 03:01.320 --> 03:07.240 first to bite the bullets and no doubt there'll be more developer closures in the near, well in 03:07.240 --> 03:13.480 the few, well in the years coming ahead as well so expect other news pieces like this to drop 03:13.480 --> 03:18.280 and no doubt be quite difficult to stomach but yeah that's all the time we have in today's 03:18.280 --> 03:23.480 episode of GRTV News. We'll be back now on Monday for the next one because we're going 03:23.480 --> 03:25.880 into the weekend so yeah hope you enjoy the rest of your Friday. Enjoy your weekend and 03:25.880 --> 03:30.200 otherwise we'll see you all on the next one. Take care everyone.