Former developers from Volition, the now-defunct company behind Saints Row and Red Faction, have formed a new studio called Shapeshifter Games to assist in the development of AAA games. The studio is described as a co-developer, meaning it will offer its support to other developers and publishers in AAA development.
Shapeshifter Games, which is based in Champaign, Illinois, largely consists of several veteran Volition developers who worked on Saints Row and other franchises. The LinkedIn profile of the studio specifically mentions that it’s already working with a “top publisher” on an unnamed IP. This is great news since Volition was tragically shut down in September 2022 after the divisive Saints Row reboot underperformed both financially and critically.
READ MORE – Next PlayStation State of Play Announced for 31 January
Shapeshifter Games provided a company description which reads:
“Founded by veteran developers from Volition, Shapeshifter Games was created to partner with world class developers and publishers on the creation of AAA games. Shapeshifter draws upon deep experience in open-world and character action games earned while working on some of the industry’s most beloved franchises.”
Volition was originally founded in 1993 by Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog as Parallax Software Corporation. It would later receive a name change in 1996 and develop plenty of well-known games and smaller titles in the industry but its big call to fame was the Saints Row franchise. Despite the studio shutting its doors in 2022, it’s good to know that the developers have moved onto a more supportive role in game development. Hopefully, Shapeshifter Games will develop its own projects one day too.
Embracer Group, which owned Volition before its closure, is currently facing massive layoffs. The company laid off 900 employees last November and cancelled 15 of its planned games including a new TimeSplitters game which was scrapped along with studio Free Radical. Just this week, Embracer-owned studio Eidos Montreal announced its own round of layoffs and reportedly cancelled a new Deus Ex game that was in development.
Source: LinkedIn
