Saints Row Dev Merging With Gearbox After New Game's Lukewarm Reviews

Volition, the Illinois-based studio that recently launched a Saints Row reboot that garnered a mixed reaction from fans, is merging with Borderlands studio Gearbox.

Embracer Group, which owns both Volition and Gearbox, announced that Volition will "transition to become a part of Gearbox." The move comes after the Saints Row reboot didn't exactly strike a chord critically, but management at Embracer said the game "performed in line" with expectations.

What those expectations were, however, were not disclosed. Whatever the case, with Volition joining Gearbox, Embracer sees a bright future for Volition.

"Volition will transition to become part of Gearbox which has all the tools, including an experienced management team in the US, to create future success at Volition," Embracer said.

Volition shifting to become a part of Gearbox is the first time Embracer transferred one of its internal studios to another one, but Embracer said "it is not necessarily the last."

CEO Lars Wingefors said during an earnings briefing that the critical reception to Saints Row did not meet expectations, leaving their fanbases "partially polarized," according to VGC.

Wingefors said previously that the Saints Row reboot will end up turning a profit, just not at a level the company might have wanted. "I'm confident we will make money on the investment. Would it have [been] as great a return of investment that we have seen in many other games? Not very likely, but we will make money and that's a good starting point," he said.

The game's release in August was marked by a series of bugs and other issues. A major patch arrived just this week, bringing with it more than 200 fixes.