Volition (company)

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Deep Silver Volition, LLC
Type Subsidiary of Deep Silver
Industry Video games
Founded November 1996
Headquarters Champaign, Illinois, United States
Key people Dan Cermak (General Manager)
Parent Deep Silver
Website http://www.dsvolition.com/

Volition (legally Deep Silver Volition, LLC) is an American video game developer located in Champaign, Illinois. The company was created when Parallax Software was split into two companies, Volition and Outrage Entertainment, led by Mike Kulas 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] Since then, Volition has developed several acclaimed titles including the Red Faction series, the Summoner series, The Punisher, and the Saints Row series.

When THQ filed for bankruptcy, many companies showed interest in the assets of THQ, especially since THQ announced that they will attempt to keep the jobs of their employees by selling their various assets.[3] General manager of Volition Inc., Dan Cermak said that Warner Bros., Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Deep Silver, and an unnamed group from Chicago all completed site visits in the weeks preceding the sale.[4] Eventually, Volition was acquired by Koch Media for 22.3 million dollars.[5] None of the other companies that showed interest in Volition actually bid except for Ubisoft that bid 5.4 million dollars.[4]

Volition was the second most expensive THQ asset sold during the auction (after Relic Entertainment). It is believed to be worth that much due to the past success of its games that made by the studios such as Saints Row: The Third. In early 2012, Saints Row: The Third sold around 4 million copies from its release date which was in mid November 2011. THQ also claimed that the game's downloadable content packages were performing much better than anticipated.[6]

As part of THQ's bankruptcy and dissolution in January 2013, Volition was acquired by Deep Silver, changing their legal name from Volition, Inc. to Deep Silver Volition, LLC, although they continue to do business as Volition. Only the rights to the Saints Row series, and not other franchises, were included in the transaction.[7]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s)
GC Mac N-G PS2 PS3 PS4 Win Xbox X360 XBO
1998 FreeSpace: The Great War No No No No No No Yes No No No
1999 FreeSpace 2 No No No No No No Yes No No No
2000 Summoner No Yes No Yes No No Yes No No No
2001 Red Faction No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No
2002 Summoner 2 Yes No No Yes No No No No No No
2002 Red Faction II Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes No No
2005 The Punisher No No No Yes No No Yes Yes No No
2006 Saints Row No No No No No No No No Yes No
2008 Saints Row 2 No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No
2009 Red Faction: Guerrilla No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No
2011 Red Faction: Armageddon No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No
2011 Saints Row: The Third No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No
2013 Saints Row IV No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No

References

  1. ↑ Hanson, Ben (March 30, 2011). "The Secret History of Volition". Game Informer. GameStop. Retrieved July 6, 2012. 
  2. ↑ "THQ Acquires Volition in Stock Transaction". Los Angeles Times. September 12, 2000. 
  3. ↑ "The Break Up - Bankrupt THQ's Assets Sold At Auction". Forbes. April 18, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Volition had six interested buyers - Report". GameSpot. January 30, 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. Retrieved April 24, 2013. 
  6. ↑ "THQ's fourth-quarter results got a boost from Saints Row". Destructoid. Retrieved April 24, 2013. 
  7. ↑ "THQ Dissolved, Saints Row, Company of Heroes, Darksiders Devs Acquired". IGN. Retrieved January 23, 2013. 

External links

Current franchises
Former franchises
Other games
Descent and Freespace series
Descent series
FreeSpace series
Companies
Red Faction series
Video games
Films
  • Origins
Related articles
  • Deep Silver Volition
  • THQ
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