Volition (company)

Deep Silver Volition, LLC

File:Volition logo.png
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Computer and video games
Predecessor	Parallax Software
Founded	November 1996
Founders	Mike Kulas Matt Toschlog
Headquarters	Champaign, Illinois, United States
Key people	Dan Cermak
Products	Red Faction (2001–11) Saints Row (2006–)
Number of employees	300 (2014)
Parent	Deep Silver
Website	www.dsvolition.com

Deep Silver Volition, LLC (also known as 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.

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.

Games developed

Year	Title	Platform(s)
		GC	OS X	Win	Linux	NGE	PS2	PS3	PS4	Xbox	X360	XONE
1998	FreeSpace: The Great War	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
1999	FreeSpace 2	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2000	Summoner	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
2001	Red Faction	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
2002	Summoner 2	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
2002	Red Faction II	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
2005	The Punisher	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
2006	Saints Row	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
2008	Saints Row 2	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
2009	Red Faction: Guerrilla	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
2011	Red Faction: Armageddon	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
2011	Saints Row: The Third	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
2013	Saints Row IV	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
2015	Saints Row: Gat out of Hell	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

Cancelled games

• Insane
• Saints Row: Undercover

External links

• Official website
• Volition, Inc. archived by Internet Archive