Type Subsidiary Key people Dan Cermak Formerly called Volition, Inc Founders Mike Kulas, Matt Toschlog | Predecessor Parallax Software Website www.dsvolition.com Number of employees 300 (2014) | |
Industry Computer and video games Products Red Faction (2001—11)
Saints Row (2006—present) Headquarters Champaign, Illinois, United States Founded November 1996, Champaign, Illinois, United States Parent organizations THQ, Deep Silver, KOCH Media Holding GmbH Video games Saints Row IV, Saints Row: The Third, Saints Row, Saints Row 2, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell Profiles | ||
Deep Silver Volition 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 and Matt Toschlog in November 1996.
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History
When Interplay Entertainment was the publisher, Volition Inc developed the FreeSpace series of space simulation video games. When Interplay tumbled towards bankruptcy, Volition Inc was acquired by THQ in September 2000. Since then, Volition Inc 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. del Toro has since announced that Insane is still currently in development from an as of yet undisclosed developer.
When THQ filed for bankruptcy, a number of companies showed interest in the assets of THQ. General manager of Volition Inc., Dan Cermak said that Warner Bros., Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Deep Silver, and an unnamed group from Chicago undertook site visits in the weeks preceding the sale. Eventually, Volition was acquired by Koch Media for 22.3 million USD. The only other bid was 5.4 million USD by Ubisoft.
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.
As part of THQ's bankruptcy in January 2013, Volition Inc and the Saints Row franchise were acquired by Koch Media, with future titles being published under its Deep Silver brand. 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.