Microsoft may have had something to do with the founding of this studio.
We have new information about a new game for Xbox Game Studios.
As shared by klobrille on Twitter, a video game artist called AJ Nelson has revealed the new project on his LinkedIn.
Under the experience section of his LinkedIn, AJ has this listed as its latest entry:
“Expert Lighting Artist
Shapeshifter Games
Nov 2023 – Present 3 months
Co-Developing on an Xbox Games Studios project…”
Klobrille did some sleuthing and found the official Shapeshifter Games website. The website has this description about the company:
“Founded by veteran developers from Volition, Shapeshifter Games was created to partner with world class developers and publishers on the creation of AAA games.”
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As we had reported, Volition Studios was closed by parent company Embracer Group last year, after a 30 year tenure in the video game industry. Within that time, the studio made a name for itself with its Saints Row video game franchise. Saints Row distinguished itself from other open world games with fun and tight gameplay, that was paired in most of its games with unserious, action movie cliché ridden narratives.
We had also reported that later that year, Xbox Games Studios held an event just for Volition employees. It isn’t clear if Xbox Game Studios hired people from Volition from that event. And on that end, it’s possible, though we can’t confirm, that Xbox Game Studios had something to do with the founding of Shapeshifter Games.
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There isn’t much to take from this information now. It does seem to confirm that Microsoft continues to be aggressive about acquiring and developing new projects. For Xbox fans who stuck with the company through the years when they had few or no first party offerings, this should come as a huge relief.
Microsoft isn’t resting on their laurels after setting up what they claimed to be was enough games in the pipeline to deliver one Xbox game every quarter. They also have an army of game studios that will deliver them regular reliable revenue, and also allow them to try new projects. But if this rumor is true, that doesn’t take away their ability to continue to greenlight more games with companies they may not own.
It may be too much to already be speculating now if Shapeshifter Games’ project is a spiritual successor to the Saints Row games, but at least we can take some relief as well with the knowledge that some of the talent at Volition have bounced back and are still in the industry after all. We wish those developers good luck and we look forward to learning what they have in the works in the near future.
