The Strong National Museum of Play has announced the acquisition of new data from tenured studio Volition, which charts 30 years of game development. As announced by Andrew Borman, Director of Digital Preservation at The Strong, the museum received a massive donation from former Volition staff, including “thousands of game builds, some source material, documentation, awards, and props.”
The data even includes builds for cancelled prototypes of games, including Saints Row: Undercover, which was intended to release on PlayStation Portable.
As noted by The Strong, this is a significant donation, and a very important collection for preserving the history of Volition. Prior to its Embracer Group-initiated shutdown in 2023, Volition had been one of the longest-tenured game development studios still actively creating new games. The company was first established in 1993, and survived through a range of industry and technology changes, consistently putting out popular, innovative games along the way.
Volition created the first “fully 3D first person shooter” in Descent, which is now part of The Strong’s collection. It was also responsible for the Saints Row series, which became one of the defining franchises of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era.
In the collection donated to The Strong, developers have shared various livestreams and design documents charting the development of these iconic games, revealing more about their processes, and the many challenges facing titles heading to release.
Read: Game preservation is difficult work – but we must do it now
One particular prototype of the original Saints Row has also revealed more of the game’s original ideas, when it was known as Bling Bling. As shown off in a brief video posted by The Strong, this “phase five” prototype contains a range of unfinished levels which were eventually adapted into the final game, with some elements removed or changed.
It’s clear the discoveries having excited the team at The Strong, and that it’s committed to preserving the data with the care and reverence it deserves.
“The donation represents nearly 30 years of the company’s history, and the work of so many Volitionites,” Borman posted on LinkedIn. “It’s been a pleasure working on the initial processing of the collection, and discovering the history of such a pioneering company.”
Those keen to see more of the collection will need to stay patient, as there’s a significant volume of data that needs to be formally processed. “There’s much work to be done organising, cataloguing and migrating data from optical discs and other storage formats before it becomes accessible to researchers and museum guests,” The Strong said.
In the coming months, archivists will work to preserve this data in modern formats, to ensure the history of Volition can be shared with everyone. With such iconic games under its belt, the new Volition collection will certainly be one worth exploring.
