Saints Row developer, Volition, hit with layoffs

Volition is the studio behind the classic Saints Row games and the recent Agents of Mayhem game. One month after the release of Agent of Mayhem, the studio has been hit with layoffs that gave affected 30 people this week.

This news comes from Kotaku who learned of the story from three different sources. According to these sources, general manager Dan Cermak has also been laid off.

Sources state that publisher Deep Silver was unhappy with the sales of Agents of Mayhem. The sales figures for the game are not available publicly so it’s difficult to say how the game actually fared. Reviews for the game were very mixed however with some reviewers enjoying the game and others disliking it.

However, it’s important to remember that we don’t know why these people were laid off. It’s actually quite common to decrease the number of staff after the development of a big project is complete. So this may just be a standard downsizing as opposed to being due to the poor sales of Agents of Mayhem. Volition and Deep Silver has not yet provided any comments on the matter. Without their comments, we won’t know for sure why 30 members of staff were laid off.

Volition was originally purchased by Deep Silver in 2013 after THQ went bankrupt. Their most recent games are Saints Row: Gat out of Hell and Agents of Mayhem. While their most recent title, Agents of Mayhem, is being treated as a brand new property it’s actually set in the same universe as Saints Row. So there is some crossover between the series. Before this, they also worked on the Red Faction series for THQ.

We will provide you with updates when we learn more about the situation at Volition and Deep Silver regarding these layoffs. More news should come soon.