Developer Volition has apparently laid off “over 30 people” in a report from Kotaku. Among those laid off include the general manager of the studio Dan Cermak, as well as several other workers. It isn’t clear just yet why the layoffs occurred, but it appears it may be related to Agents of Mayhem’s less-than-stellar critical response.
Parent company Deep Silver, according to the sources Kotaku spoke to, were “unhappy” with the sales that came from the game’s release, though it wasn’t confirmed that it’s the direct reason for the layoffs. Studios do tend to ebb and flow before and after major releases, but this doesn’t appear to be part of the natural responses to the changing tides that happen during these release periods. The Volition incident could have been another issue entirely.
Volition previously worked on Saints Row: Gat out of Hell as well as Agents of Mayhem. Agents of Mayhem was a third-person mission-based shooter that was set within the Saints Row universe, but it couldn’t quite capture the same kind of feeling that the original games did. It was still quite fun, however, and a good weekend play.
It’s still unfortunate when people do lose their jobs in situations like these, so hopefully the staff at Volition are able to land on their feet soon, whatever the case may be.
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