Volition Founder Mike Kulas Leaves Studio

Mike Kulas, founder and president of Red Faction and Saints Row developer Volition Inc, is to leave the company early next week. He is voluntarily stepping down after 18 years with the Illinois-based games company, including five years with its predecessor, Descent developer Parallax Software. Kulas co-founded Parallax with Matt Toschlog in 1993. After the company split in 1997, Kulas formed Volition, which was later bought by THQ. Volition's vice president of product development Dan Cermak will take over from Kulas as Volition president. Cermak has been with the company since 2003. Talking to Illinois news site The News-Gazette, Kulas noted that his departure was not triggered by any event, and he has been considering leaving the company since last year. He said that with Red Faction: Armageddon now completed and Saints Rows: The Third "in the home stretch," now was a good time for him to leave. Although THQ recently confirmed that Volition has been hit by layoffs, with 16 employees let go, Kulas said that there are no other layoffs coming in the near future. Kulas said he has no immediate career plans at the moment, and is looking to clear his head before moving on to a new project or company.