The Rise and Fall of Saints Row
207,725
Published 2024-02-28
After breaking ground with first-person shooters like Descent and redefining video game destruction with Red Faction, developer Volition, Inc. dipped its toes in a then-up-and-coming genre, the open-world adventure. Saints Row, formerly codenamed Bling Bling, served as the studio’s entry into the space, whose foundations were settled years prior by Rockstar Games’s Grand Theft Auto 3. Upon release, then, Saints Row quickly drew comparisons to the popular PlayStation 2 title; however, the so-called GTA clone introduced a few tricks not seen in other open-world games of the day. A slew of character creation options along with impressive physics significantly mixed up the gameplay possibilities, providing Saints Row a wholly unique identity.
Acclaimed sequels Saints Row 2, Saints Row the Third, and Saints Row IV further separated Volition’s “gang simulator” from the pack, with each new instalment leaning deeper into the franchise’s wackier elements. And as the accolades mounted, so, too, did the commercial success, resulting in Saints Row becoming one of publisher THQ’s most profitable properties. But not even the cash made off the backs of the Third Street Saints could keep the financially troubled THQ afloat.
The publisher’s bankruptcy in 2012 hardly impacted the series, though. Under the ownership of new parent company Deep Silver—and later Embracer Group—Volition produced three additional Saints Row experiences, including a 2022 reboot that never gained favour from hardcore fans. To some, the “GTA copycat” that eventually reinvented the genre suddenly lost its lustre, and for that, the brand suffered mightily. Within a year of the reboot’s debut, Volition closed up shop, leaving the future of the Saints in a state of uncertainty.
This is the Rise and Fall of Saints Row.
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All Comments (21)
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Stop torturing yourself and get Opera GX: operagx.gg/GVMERS3
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" if you dont like it dont buy it" " Nobody buys it" " Surprised Pikachu face"
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Saints Row didn't die it was sabotaged and murdered
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Is almost as if doing something that your fanbase didn't want was a recipe for disaster
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At some point, game studios will realise that Twitter isn't actually a game console and stop making game for it...
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Still to this day I still think Saints Row 2 had the perfect balance of wackiness while still being a serious game.
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Just remember that when we gave them constructive criticism about the trash they showed us, they taunted us with “Haters gonna hate” memes. Maybe if they listened to us, they’d still be in business but what would I, a fan since launch day of Saints Row 1, know?
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There are very few examples of ''completely discarding your previous audience'' actually working. And yet these companies not only keep on doing it, but have the balls to actually insult the previous fanbase who made your franchise what it is for not liking the new direction. This is absolutely insane to me, it really is.
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If Agents of Mayhem was the coffin, then Saints Row (2022) was the final nail.
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Saints Row 2 will always remain a rough masterpiece in my mind. The formula should be continued and expanded upon, without going overboard.
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Made for the "modern audience".
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The insane ego and hubris of the developers who thought that essentially putting a middle finger up to the fans that had bought their games by going against what the games were previously all about is two things, hilarious, and, sadly, incredibly indicative of franchise owners - both video games, film, and TV - since the mid to late 2010s. And I love every second of it. This is what happens when you start employing people who don't actually care about your games, and can't wait to press their own identity into the media. They would rather poison a pre-existing well just because, than build one from the ground up.
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As soon as they mentioned the Embracer Group, I knew this franchise would not end on a happy note
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R. I. P. Volition. And R. I. P. my farfetched dreams of a Red Faction Guerilla sequel...
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Can't wait for your Rise and Fall of Rocksteady video.
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I have no sympathy for them what so ever. A big part of that is because they choose to attack fans with criticism instead of taking it with humility. You want to make money you don't attack your long time fans.
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If any company says they are making a game for a "modern audience" then I will not buy their game.
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They weren't able to pay off their student loan debts.
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You can either be the Director of the Sonic film or you can be the Saint's Row 2022 Volition. One path leads to success and the other leads to death.
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Some people, including developers have been very delusional about this, but Volition didn't die because of Embracer. Their leadership failed to pick a compelling direction for the future of the franchise and to stick to it. The Matt McMuscles video features testimonies of devs revealing that the team kept losing precious development time because of hesitations concerning the way the story should go and the creative direction as a whole. The answers of the creative director during interviews betrayed an unwillingness to go anywhere near the grittiness of making an actual crime-centered game, trying to reinvent the franchise as a generic action game, clean of drugs, sex work or gangs. And here's the thing: regardless of my love for SR2, I don't think that rebooting Saints Row into something more lighthearted or "wacky" necessarily means the end of the franchise. But they, at least, needed a leadership that recognized that doing so successfully would require them to release the most polished and compelling Volition game to date ! The fans would have embraced a flawed return of the franchise if it were a familiar version of the franchise. But if you alienate the fanbase, there is no other choice but to impress the mainstream audience. They had two choices but picked a disastrous third option, make a game that no one wished for. Let it be remembered that months before Embracer failed to secure their $2 Billion deal (not just months before they communicated about it, months before it actually happened), Volition was already in a bad spot in the eyes of Embracer, given that Saints Row 2022 was their biggest release and biggest disappointment during that period. A critical and commercial failure that followed the critical and commercial failure of Agents of Mayhem. What the hell are you supposed to do with a studio that spent the last several years showing, both, an inability to successfully create new IP's and an inability to successfully expand on their biggest success ? It's a tragedy for most of the workforce that lost their job despite their hardwork. I have nothing but appreciation for them. But Volition's leadership failed Volition.
