The Rise and Fall of Saints Row

[Applause] 24 enies 24 is 18 after breaking ground with first-person shooters like descent and redefining video game destruction with Red Faction developer valuing dipped its toes in a then upand cominging genre the open World adventure Saints Row formerly codenamed blink bling served as the Studio's entry into the space whose foundations were settled years prior by Rockstar games' 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 a claim sequel Saints Row 2 saints row I thir and Saints R 4 further separated volition's gang simulator from the pack with each new installment leaning deeper into the franchise's wackier elements and as the accolades mounted so too did the commercial success resulting in Saints Ro 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 Publishers bankruptcy in 2012 hardly impacted the series though under the ownership of new parent company deep silver and a later embracer group bition produced three additional Saints Row experiences including a 2022 reboot that never gained favor from Hardcore fans to some the GTA copycat that eventually reinvented the genre suddenly lost its luster and for that the brand suffered mightily within a year of the reboots debut volition closed up shop leaving the future of the Saints in a state of uncertainty this is the rise and fall of Saints [Music] Row this video has been brought to you in part by Opera GX have you become tired of your boring old life well there's no time like the present to spice it up with Opera GX and thanks to GX mods the customization possibilities are endless with custom background music keyboard effects opening and closing tab sounds different themes and browser colors with dedicated wallpapers you can truly make Opera GX your very own it even allows you to disable and enable mods and individual modifications in the mods menu available from the sidebar so check out the GX store for a treasure Trove of mods or get creative and craft your own unique browsing experience Opera GX also integrates generative AI chat GPT and chat Sonic on the sidebar can help you with your homework or finding just that one tidbit of info you need to defeat the next boss at the click of a button and with a quick import tool you can seamlessly transfer settings from your old browser including history bookmarks and cookies and even your Google Chrome extensions making the switch to oper GX hassle-free and easier than ever so waste no time use our link to download Opera GX today we'd like to thank Opera GX for sponsoring this video between the company's founding under the name of Parallax software in 1993 to the incipient stages of saints Rose conception in 2003 valicia Inc circled the Block in terms of the types of projects internal developers produced the team's humble beginnings were set in motion with space Centric firstperson shoot him up descent which spawned several sequels and a fourth Mainline entry whose cancellation culminated in the creation of Red Faction by 2003 volition had shipped two separate Red Faction titles and was well on its way to pushing a Punisher movie tiin out the door in a Game Informer sit down about the history of volition senior technical artist Adam Pletcher divulged that during the Spring of 2003 the studio conducted a design exercise allowing all developers to propose fresh ideas Vice President Dan surmac boiled one pitch down to an FPS gang simulator a premise that in his eyes made little sense surmac believed the new project should follow the audience and go where minimal competition resided at the time open world gaming fit the bill since Grand Theft Auto Drew in over 8 million players that Rockstar didn't have to share with Rivals the FPS gang simulator thus pivoted to an open world backdrop and given VII's technical prowess the studio felt up to the challenge surmac argued the development house had too long relied on its jack of all trades routine therefore a more focused approach was a must while few disagreed co-founder Mike kulos recalled that selling the project codenamed bling bling to higher ups proved difficult the vision trailer created for executives comprised Cobble together footage from movies and other video games conveying a general mood and theme further accentuated by the use of nwa's most popular song opinions were mixed especially considering the Champagne Illinois based studi relative proximity to gang violence the Chief Financial Officer pondered whether bling bling was the type of game the studio should make concerns about the risk of controversy weighed heavily on the discussion as well ultimately CEO Brian Ferell gave the green light exhibiting a great show of faith in The Proposal preemptively mitigating backlash meant establishing some ground rules most notably the team decided that killing children and police officers would be made an impossibility in game the latter notion later fell by the wayside but kulas hoped that despite the somewhat serious tone the game's humorous aspects would counteract the gang violence Motif regardless of how the subject matter was packaged a contingent of employees didn't want to be associated with it still both fici and THQ invested significant resources into the title's three-year production cycle and though the initial Vision remained intact throughout technical director Alan Lawrence noted in a Dev diary that the technology changed considerably over time for one a small team entered development with a PS2 build before Xbox 360 became the Project's sole platform the PlayStation Hardware couldn't deliver nearly enough horsepower for what the bition crew had in store thus programmers built a new game engine from the ground up fully leveraging the 360 CPU capabilities such effort facilitated the removal of loading as players navigated the open world environment but achieving these ends was no easy feat according to Pletcher contending with streaming worlds for the first time made Saints Row volition's most challenging Endeavor to date and the negligible technological advancements didn't help Xbox 360 enjoyed eight times the memory of its predecessor yet the benefit of these gains were dampened by DVD throughput receiving a comparatively meager increase between console Generations so even though in-game geometry boasted more detailed textures at a higher resolution Saints R suffered a bottleneck manifesting in the DVD format struggled to quickly read data fortunately a solution came by way of minimizing the number of DVD seeks and using compression to reduce the amount of data read from the DVD the key to pulling this off rested in a system that split the open world city of stillw into several chunks the DVD could read in a single seek generally speaking the streaming system works such that bition could craft a dense Urban setting completely devoid of immersion braking loading in addition to utilizing propriety AR technology the studio licensed havoc's physics technology letting its unfamiliarity with rigid body physics guide this particular choice several physics-based gameplay elements spawned from the Havoc license including the franchise's Beloved insurance fraud activity and interestingly enough the likes of insurance fraud were internally seen as far more than mere side missions that paded the experience bition viewed the ancillary content as an integral part of player progression and the overarching quest a line of thinking specifically designed to combat one of open world Gaming's primary issues the disconnect between main missions and side quests let's get down to business if we're serious about taking back the road we got to let those [ __ ] know what time it is they break it down and it's all about respect get enough of it they're going to back off and we're going to move right on in the Metropolis of Still Water Drew inspiration from Chicago and Detroit and took form as an older industrial city Still Water came first in the course of development its inner workings determined before valtion even had a story set in stone this districts were constructed during pre-production then pieced together for testing in the in-game engine design director Christopher Stockman claimed the first draft felt too small resulting in his dimensions quadrupling in size upon realizing the sheer amount of work required to build a content-rich game with so much available real estate developers reduced still water to the size that players familiarized themselves with in the final product many previously planned districts were consequently tossed aside such as those revolving around an enterable shopping mall trailer park and train station while they weren't easy ideas to abandon Stockman argued every decision ensured the city met the needs of the game Above All Else and considering volition's ambitious Vision Saints Rose knes were plenty in conducting research the studio found that players especially enjoyed causing Mayhem in open world settings following the story was the furthest thing from a top priority for most and only a modest number of users actually finished sandbox games preferring to instead steel Vehicles kill NPCs and engage with side missions the problem bition identified nestled in the fact that secondary and tertiary activities never mattered in the grand scheme merely providing cheap laughs and in-game cash to spend on items that didn't progress The Narrative Saints Row creators aim to make side content feel consequential by harmoniously linking it and the main quest line a Pursuit that breathed life into what became known as activities 13 activities were designed for the time each one using core game mechanics in new and interesting ways the designated tasks ranged from protecting drug dealers and drug trafficking missions to tearing apart enemy cars and demolition derby in terms of compelling uses for core mechanics Bish's investment in the Havoc physics engine paid dividends with the insurance fraud missions which asked players to hurl their characters in front of fast-moving cars for cash bonuses completing activities additionally represented the fastest way to gain respect and open story missions in other words side missions were critical stops on the path towards finishing the game whose main goal centered on conquering Stillwater how players went about achieving such a feat was of the utmost importance hence the dedication to closely intertwining the story and side content as Stockman noted in a developer diary for GameSpy the open world genre sold itself on the promise of Maximum Freedom an ocean that also played into character customization features which felt surprisingly lacking in contemporary sandbox games bition split customization into three categories character creation cosmetic personalization and vehicle customization because rival open world titles neglected to support comparably robust options bigname sports games served as Saints Rose's primary source of inspiration but Cosmetics for Cosmetics sake didn't sit right with the creative crew not unlike side missions there was a belief that clothing items jewelry and so forth needed to impact the game as a result purchasing clothes tattoos and jewelry offer tangible benefits allowing players to progress at a slightly faster rate this level of coordination between personalization and the core experience reinforced the idea that every facet of the game mattered while vehicle customization avoided a similar attention to detail the studio made sure users could fix up their rides with an extensive selection of paint types color schemes bumpers decals and rims Saints Row also introduced a genre first by letting players pay a fee to retrieve fully customized cars after they had been destroyed these efforts bore great fruit though not everyone at the Illinois based development house had faith that Saints Row would prove worthy of the hard work you heard the cocky son of a [ __ ] let's roll [ __ ] hello [Music] [ __ ] you got to be [ __ ] kidding me it's not the Los Carnales it's just the Carnales Los means [ __ ] it like I was saying by no means did Saints Row enjoy a smooth production cycle development lasted longer than anticipated and plenty of concessions and cuts were mandatory in order to see the game through to completion all of which worried staffers who believed it would ultimately fail Studio co-founder Mike kulas likened the negativity to the upset that some employees expressed while developing the original Red Faction at the very least publisher THQ had faith enough to fund Saints Row with Bish's biggest budget to date $8 to9 million of figure Kula said the team blew through by no small amount the Endeavor additionally exceeded volition's usual headcount of around 30 to 40 developers per project over 100 people joined forces to build the open World adventure internally altering the studio Dynamic kulos told Game Informer the THQ buyout almost had no effect on the crew operations the continuously growing team size was what changed things evident in the postmortem writeups that developers turned in after Saints Row wrapped prod uction negativity filled many of the responses much of it doing out management critiques according to Vice President Dan CAC Tunes suddenly changed when the so-called gang simulator landed in stores and performed above expectations Saints Row crept into the public conscious on May 12th 2005 during the 22-minute television special MTV presents Xbox the Next Generation revealed a sneak peek at the new title featured in the coming to Xbox 360 segment along side Snippets from Call of Duty 2 and Gears of War the Limelight fully shined on volition's open world Opus days later during E3 2005 where members of the press viewed a hands-off gameplay Demo First Impressions spoke highly of the GTA clone applauding the graphics Dynamic lighting character creation tools and sandbox gameplay notably separating Saints Row from Grand Theft Auto and the Sea of copycats that had followed its lead were the physics-based elements the extra emphasis on action put the title A Cut Above the Rest as well with IGN describing it as equal parts San Andreas and volitions The Punisher such sentiments help the Studio's newest IP Excel upon release on Xbox 360 in August 2006 critics acknowledged The Superficial GTA comparisons though many assured hopeful players the imitation only ran Skin Deep on the outside Saints Row wore the guise of yet another open-ended Criminal action game chasing the coales of Rockstar North those who peeled back the layers found something deeper applause-worthy customization fun gameplay a good balance between realism and amusement and an entertaining campaign carried by a stacked cast including Clancy Brown Keith David Michael Clark Duncan and me lunis insufficient Mission variety subpar audio choppy performance on a multiplayer mode that felt tacked on counted among Saints Rose shortcomings although few could deny that volition had a hit on its hands and even reviewers and players who couldn't forget give the sometimes overwhelming GTA similarities admitted Saints R provided a good hold over while people patiently awaited the launch of GTA4 either way Word of Mouth worked in the new game's favor given it sold 2 million plus copies by June 2008 had the PS3 and we ports completed development as planned Millions more units may have further boosted sales figures do we have to have another conversation within 5 months of saints Rose debut on Xbox 360 THQ unveiled a PlayStation 3 Port one year in the making but the much anticipated PS3 version never saw the light of day its cancellation in May 2007 announced alongside news of a multi-platform sequel THQ Chief Brian feral told analysts it' be better for the brand to ship simultaneously into a larger install base the following year implying PS3 sluggish sales informed the port's mid development termination supposedly bition had near nearly finished Saints Rose PlayStation iteration when THQ pulled the plug independent PlayStation Magazine's March 2007 cover story walked through some of the upgrades and content editions that were scheduled on top of slight graphical and gameplay improvements the PS3 version would have also shipped with dozens of exclusive Cosmetics multiplayer maps and support for DualShock 3's motion sensing 6axis technology the alleged plans for six AIS support made sense when considering a Wei Port also enjoyed a brief stint in development not long after shipping Saints Road chq charged its subsidiary mass media games with bringing the world of Stillwater to the Nintendo platform a former employee of the pouse told content creator Saints R clips that production ceased 5 months in due to the Publishers legal trouble with Nintendo leaked gameplay footage demonstrated that while mass media did indeed get the open World adventure running on Wii it suffered a drastic graphical downg grade with single textures reduced by a reported 87% Above All Else these cancellations freed up resources for Saints Row 2 an Endeavor that kicked into high gear at least 12 months before valtion completed production on the original speaking with worth playing the sequels project design director James S noted Saints Row had franchise potential written on it from the start explaining the early decision to Begin work on a second installment the sequel team took advantage of the Head Start Clos watching how the first games creators managed technology design and art yet outside of following through on the Saints Row Cliffhanger the creatives behind the newer title brought over precious little from the 2006 entry the streaming system rendering technology and even the layout of Stillwater all underwent a complete rework in the years before Saints Row 2 arrived in 2009 [ __ ] you been I miss thanks for the advice the tech debt thing hurt us again we had to fix the streaming issues on S ran by making all the city chunks into a uniform size and make them smaller so we could have three loaded at once we made it in a brick pattern from the beginning Saints R to leads recognized the need to overhaul the rudimentary streaming system that powered volition's first open world outing the previous setup allowed for a meager two chunks of the city to be loaded simultaneously restricting the speed at which users could Traverse certain areas Conant instituted another debilitating limitation that would not stand when heading into SQL territory and while St Rose geometry provided a foundational base for the rendering model extensive modification was mandatory to ensure the game could load in different ways the rendering and streaming overhauls open the door for a larger play Space 100 plus explorable interiors and new vehicle classes such as boats Jets and airplanes thus additional districts were built beneath the city land expanded Westward and familiar neighborhoods received a makeover in addition the gang infested real estate of the aonomus Saints Row District did away with the squalor to make room for a glass and steel Utopia where corporations laid claim to every street corner each Stillwater development had purpose too lore-based reasoning that stemm from One Source Alor the same Corporation behind the hostilities that long plagued the world of Red Faction excessive financial means and political cash saw ultor bulldoze its way into the Stillwater power structure in the many years separating the end of Saints Row and the start of chapter 2 that kind of influence ran deep for instance as opposed to hedging its bets on local police departments the mega Corporation deployed private security when situations demanded a certain level of force as James S noted in an IGN interview from a narrative and design standpoint ultor represented a persistent Nemesis developers could build the game around the player character occupied the opposite end waking for a years long coma and hellbent on seeking Revenge after being Left for Dead amid the Saints Row one Cliffhanger again the World building between gam served as the backbone that bolstered one of the sequel's more drastic changes since the first titles explosive finale badly disfigured the user created hero the upgraded character creator proved functional on multiple levels to fans their character's New Look was the result of technological constraints to Still Water Dennison this particular Third Street Saint had undergone extensive plastic surgery and with the wealth of options valtion filled the system with players could physically create anyone they wanted Saints r2's absurd level of customization didn't solely extend to additions like the choice of gender voice and the dozen or so no sliders this fixation on a character's physical qualities further applied to gameplay elements player made decisions informed their fighting styles taunts Vehicles the gang drove and the activities performed to advance in the story campaign all of which injected the brand with a unique identity from a big picture point of view Saints Row to needed to build upon the unexpected success of its predecessor as well as ensure the then nent property quickly evolved into a viable and Global franchise on Next Generation Hardware the sequel accomplished this much and more yet the path taken to reach such ends was riddled with a series of Technical and managerial wos many of them unforced errors that almost led the project astray you cool taking out those [ __ ] by yourself I got to clean up a on the house no problem man I got [Music] [Music] this for the April 2009 issue of game developer magazine producer Greg Donovan penned a Saints rot to postmortem reflecting on the game's development Donovan praised the great collaborative effort between volition and THQ he also applauded the Outsourcing initiative which saw numerous external developers produce a large volume of content like animations environmental assets and sound effects Outsourcing especially benefited the need to keep down costs the team similarly brought in programming mercenaries from outside the Saints Road 2 crew some of whom were Red Faction and mass media developers who lent their talents across a 4-month period without their contribution Donovan maintained production would not have remained on schedule and Myriad issues affecting leadership and the core team had already disrupted the timetable Donovan's postmortem claimed the first of such troubles Grew From the lack of an early team-wide project vision during pre-production creative leads adapted the earliest vision of saints rowu from Saints R builds QA testing and the like reviews and post-launch player feedback understandably altered initial plans however the changes weren't effectively conveyed to the increasingly growing team when development began in earnest even worse no one in charge established a universal Vision in the transition between pre-production and full production the producer argued that not extending the pre-production cycle to account for this oversight counted among the earliest and most devastating mistakes jumping into development without ensuring everyone was on the same page gave leads license to guide their respective teams based on a subjective interpretation of saints R 2's Direction naturally this ill advised approach resulted in in congruence between the disciplines such that features and assets were created then later abandoned in a mad rush to course correct culminating in more reactive and less proactive decision-making a solution manifested with a focused direction that everyone could agree upon as well as an increase of cross discipline communication and the willingness to eliminate or iterate on features that weren't working though they proved far-reaching managerial shortcomings constituted the tip of the iceberg the sequel's ambitious open world design and grander story Spawn from a series debut bursting with problematic tools and production pipelines bition Saints Road 2 group lacked the time and knowledge to properly tackle these issues headon according to Donovan the biggest misstep Drew life from a failure to rework tools previously identified as Troublesome programmers a number of them unfamiliar with pre-existing tools instead added functionality on top of said tools sometimes leading to obstructive system breakdowns of course productivity suffered as a consequence the iterative pr process of development thus became burdensome forcing a new setup powered by more efficient workstations game stability similarly faltered in the aftermath of pre-production failures in the end the programmers assigned to Saints Rose sequel found themselves rushing to fix bugs that didn't crop up until late in development and on some occasions fixing one glitch begat another as one would expect design and art teams couldn't help but fall behind on polish and iteration processes but through the tumult Saints Row 2 overcame the logistical and Technical nightmares that beset its three plus years of development engendering an experience that guaranteed the new franchise could compete with the heaviest hitters one of which happened to be Grand Theft Auto [Music] 4 that stuff is very sophisticated I won't bore you with all the details like acetone and tri chorane but there is definitely some very good pot in there the second Saints Row entry initially garnered mention in a February 2007 earnings call with investors wherein THQ CEO Brian Ferell named six franchises the company expected to revisit during its 2008 fiscal year following the meteoric success of the 2006 installment Saints R comfortably occupied a spot on pharoh's list the sequel's official reveal hit the airwaves months later in May 2007 while the announcement offered scant details bition and its publisher promised a simultaneous release across PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2008 it wasn't all good news though as word of St 1's cancelled PS3 Port accompanied the unveiling at the very least siries faithful were treated to more Saints rad to information that September courtesy of a teaser website and interviews speaking with press Greg Donovan teased a much darker and more Sinister story talk of an expanded Stillwater campaign co-op support competitive multiplayer and enhanced customization also built up early anticipation the marketing machine leapt into action in the spring of 2008 and with Grand Theft Auto 4 out in late April all eyes were on how the THQ property would differentiate itself to visition the answer seems simple Rockstar appeared to have taken GTA story in more of a serious ultra realistic Direction whereas Saints Row two players could set the tone in accordance with how their character dressed and behaved add to that the over-the-top Gam playay play and developers readily build the saint starring Adventure as one that cared nothing for the boundaries of realism favorable reviews accompany the title's October 2008 due date despite technical shortcomings plaguing the release with bugs and stability hiccups critics generally labeled The Experience mindless Mayhem absent any depth with some deeming the excessive violence and language distracting at times launching just months after GTA 4 didn't do it any favors in this respect as the ever evolving perception of saints Ro moved it out of cheap Grand Theft Auto knockoff territory and plopped firmly on the outdated and aoral alternative to GTA Hill the constant comparison seemingly had no adverse effect on the sequel's commercial viability Bish's crime ridden sandbox brighten the Outlook of a struggling THQ having sold 2.6 million units by Spring 2009 Saints R franchise sales topped 5 million during this period another small win for a publisher whose boss has reported a $430 million Revenue loss for the 2009 fiscal year unfortunately thq's turmoil never ceased Johnny is it's really hard to Define you know what's the right amount of stuff to have in the game we had just come off of Saints Row 2 where the mentality was you know let's put every single feature we can possibly think of in the game you know if that game had it well we need to put it in our game and we'll do it this slightly different way design director Scott Phillips delivered a GDC 2012 talk which doubled as a postmortem for 2011 Saints Row III he mentioned that Saints Row 2's development boiled down to the team putting everything it could think of into the game a totally disjointed and wildly inconsistent experience originated from that approach when pre-production on the third began in October 2008 only 20% of Siri's veterans occupied its development crew the topic of what it meant to be a Saints Row game sparked much discussion a tonally inconsistent Sequel and a crew predominantly comprising franchise newcomers made for lots of uncertainty but all involved knew they wanted to avoid past mistakes the third installment thus necessitated a clear Focus morally driven decision-making rested at the Nexus of it all for the first six months of its existence Saints Row III starred an undercover FBI agent infiltrating the Third Street Saints player choices would have pit the criminal elements against the character's duty to Law and Order one example Phillips outlined in a polygon interview involved the covert operative finding a hall of cocaine and deciding whether to tip off the FBI or hand it over to the gang the team felt good about this Avenue in general but leads thought it clashed with traditional Saints Row experiences back to the drawing board they went kickstarting brainstorming sessions that helped pivot to a different design philosophy embrace the crazy fun trumpa the new mantra caused its fair share of problems however distasteful weapons like con concentrated flatulence in a jar were getting pitched left and right constantly re-explaining what did and didn't work became an exercise and frustration for those in charge inspiring the creation of a tone video spliced together footage from Bad Boys Hot Fuzz and shoot them up along with a prev visualization demo sequence conveyed how players should feel better than written or spoken communication but even with a cohesive vision and tone Saints Row 3 developers ran into the same problem as their Saints Row 2 counterparts by Conjuring up an incredibly large volume of ideas many of them shelled because the 100 person crew lacked the necessary resources one such concept materialized as a free gunning system an Assassin's Creed likee parkour mechanic wherein players could free run over obstacles while simultaneously shooting their weapon after about a year in development bition sidelined the feature amid performance errors outside of technical woes Philips said cutting down on plant content that didn't fit for one reason or another became the norm because of limited Manpower these tough calls saw developers focus more on big AAA set pieces and steer clear of the derisively named FedEx moments that asked players to drive from one location to the next by the design director's estimation the initiative to excise content removed potentially thousands of Mand days of scheduled work interestingly he maintained in retrospect that the game would have been better had they abandoned other subpar missions and side content [Music] a bold New Vision invited a change of pace and after setting two games in the fictional city of Stillwater bition figured it was time to venture into a different local one where players could take full advantage of a rediculous over-the-top pleasure-filled experience steelport manifested as the ideal Metropolis for Saints Rose newest tools and toys narratively the move spawned from the Third Street Saints branching out after taking over Stillwater the Saints sold themselves out between Saints Row 2 and the start of its followup inking lucrative brand deals for profit the universe rition created propped up the gang affiliated criminals as celebrities media icons garnering widespread attention from an adoring public who fonded over their Shenanigans Saints paraphernalia filled the shops of the hyperrealistic steelport all while the commercialized gang members wreaked havoc across the city with weapons as outrageous as oversized sex toys Saints Row thei third also featured creative destruction mechanics not seen in previous outings with the addition of vehicle deformation and destructible props the developers considered utilizing Red faction's geomod 2 engine but decided against it because destructive gameplay counted for a subsect of The Wider Focus senior producer Greg Donovan offered additional Insight in a now gamer interview mentioning that implementing geomod 2's capabilities would have made for an experience that felt unlike Saints Row oh [ __ ] whatever form the next adventure took longtime fans were eager to know more after associate producer Dan Sutton promised Saints Row 3 would engender a new Direction in a late 2008 interview though expected to appear the project conspicuously missed E3 2010 when speaking to analysts at an E3 meeting thq's Executive Vice President of core games Danny Bilson guaranteed the series would return no later than April 2012 and explained it see absence by revealing volition had spent an extra year rebuilding the technology other Saints r related rumbling circulated during the trade show as well in particular website CVG claimed the billson Le E3 discussion teased a work in progress film adaptation that had a major filmmaker attached the publisher allegedly hoped to launch the third title alongside the property Silver Screen debut idealism that never bore fruit Saints R III officially took Center State AG in March 2011 with an announcement accompanied by a Game Informer cover reveal slated for a holiday 2011 release on PC PS3 and Xbox 360 the new Saints Row position players at the top of the food chain offering all the perks expected of someone heading up an elite criminal organization THQ and valtion assured fans the over-the-top zaniness of past installments would resurface bolstered by several more layers of outlandish gameplay possibilities and though multiplayer never made their cut following its unpopularity in the past the third's roll out that November didn't disappoint considered a soft reboot Saints Row II launched to the series's best review scores Landing firmly in the mid 80s on Metacritic reviewers described it as an adult theme park a bombastic romp layered with the deepest depths of Mayhem and perversion when judged on the merits of pure gameplay fian's Third Saints Row was a Bonafide hit the perfect demonstration of what sandbox games could offer a general lack of challenge unimpressive visuals and distracting glitches prevented the title from reaching the satirical Masterpiece Heights bition appeared to be targeting entertainment Weekly's C+ grade review while in part filled with praise summed up the third's fundamental Rhythm by dubbing it an awesome setup with terrible follow-through favorable word of mouth and post-launch DLC support bolstered the 2011 Adventures Commercial Success THQ reported the title had shipped in over 4 million units by April 2012 leading Executives of the struggling publisher to believe it would finish the calendar year with a cash balance higher than previously projected however the top selling property and other success like the UFC games could only do so much it got so bad that eventually chq un company ran out of Road ladies it was a pretty [ __ ] plan tell me something Matt did you have a plan how about you Eddie there's a reason Philip left the thinking to us we're done here in a January 2012 investor meeting THQ CEO Brian frell spoke of realigning company resources the most significant change involved The Firm stepping away from kids licensed entertainment bringing a halt to interactive experiences modeled after Disney Nickelodeon and WB animation properties frell claimed this adjustment would streamline thq's output by exclusively focusing on the strongest franchises in its wheelhouse as far as higher ups were concerned Saints Row the third's chart topping success exemplified what the revised strategy could achieve ferral's optimism was shortlived the restructuring attempt later gave way to momentous changes as core games Executives Danny Bilson and Dave Davis sueded followed by Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin taking over as president it seemed nothing could stop the death NOS constant ringing with the walls closing in following thq's financially disastrous uDraw investment and Ever Changing industry Trends by December 2012 then THQ had filed chapter 11 bankruptcy keeping a float long enough for investor Clear Lake Capital group to buy up all assets for approximately $60 million Clear Lake auctioned off the assets peace meal in January 2013 affording deep Silver's CCH media brand a chance to purchase volition for $23 million while the world turned topy Turvy around them the Champagne Illinois based crew turned what started as a Saints Row the thir expansion into a fourth Mainline installment months after the third's debut a group of volition developers launched into preliminary production on a project internally known as Saints Row part 4 a direct sequel intended for PS3 and 360 instead of revisiting steelport part four would have dropped players in a brand new city Johnny Gat a character who who died in the third represented an integral part of the proposed narrative the idea being that he'd return via cloning an evil version of Gat the imagined clone aimed to create more doubles modeled after contemptible historical figures genas Khan Cleopatra and Joseph Stalin had part 4 been produced as planned these characters would have ruled criminal organizations across the new Metropolis incipient concepts for part 4's gameplay mechanics were likewise ambitious centering a dedicated cover system parkour capabilities and overhauled weapon customization features with attachments the superpowered Antics that later defin Saints Row 4's retail iteration played no part in part 4's design in fact hardly any of the concepts from the part 4 days survived beyond the embryonic phase while one valtion group built the Johnny Gat clone saga another endeavored to make reality out of what the public once assumed was an April Fool's joke on April 1st 2012 volition along with many of its fellow development teams across the industry announced non-existent projects in good fun blizzard showcased the fake mobile game Starcraft Supply Depot 2 Elsewhere on the internet someone produced a convincing trailer for Assassin's Creed connect volition and THQ teased enter the dominatrix a Saints Rod the third expansion where the Saints obtained superpowers within a matter of weeks the company's unveiled the DLC as a real $30 Standalone slated for a fall 2012 release on PC p PS3 and Xbox 360 instead of battling new gang affiliated enemies the saints were to take up arms against an alien warlord named zinyak who' long coveted Earth the expansion's premise focalized zinyak preparing an armada to invade the planet while also attempting to imprison the Saints in a virtual simulation of steelport this faux reality or dominatrix was designed to plate all connected to it enter the dominatrix receed the axe amid thq's leadership Shuffle upon slipping into his role as president Jason Rubin recommended bition abandon part 4 then take gameplay elements from enter the Dominatrix and Implement them in a new Saints R 4 Endeavor Ruben worried about deploying part 4 on PS3 and 360 since it wouldn't be ready before the eighth generation consoles hit store shelves by combining part 4 and the expansion developers could recycle old assets and ship a sequel before the New Gen Hardware's predicted arrival in late 2013 and thus Saints Row 4 with its superpowered gangsters and Aliens reinvigorated the IP woo now that's a rush hey it worked yes Bravo Saints Row III garnered better reception and higher sales numbers than its predecessors yet its release divided the fan base a contingent of players who enjoyed the series from day one held Saints Row Two in high regard and believed the third's ostentatious qualities had left them in the dust but there were also diard fans of the 2011 installment who hoped the property would build upon those foundations bition observed the rift and found itself at an impass yet when production on Saints Ro for proper got off the ground creative director Steve jarus said the problem resolved itself once the studio embraced the project as a love letter to the audience he claimed the title marked an attempt to bridge the gap between those who missed the Saints Row of old and players who embrace the absurdest direction regardless the fourth entry seemed a natural evolution of the series senior producer Jim Boon told polygon that at no point did the team consider technologically Reinventing Saints Row for nextg platforms given the planned PS3 and Xbox 360 release some tools were improved sure however bition devoted far more effort towards the real reinvention designing and polishing the new gameplay mechanics the core enter the dominatrix concept carried over as the same Saints obtained superpowers and defended Earth from an alien invasion once special abilities like super speed telekinesis and high jump rounded the curve the usual street level enemies seemed far too underpowered hence the need for aliens the storyline more or less followed the enter the dominatrix premise with a slew of wrinkles added in bition re-engineered the story such that players started Saints Row 4 by engaging in a heroic action that launched the protagonist the boss into unprecedented Fame and agulation eventually resulted in their tenure as a sitting US president alien Invader zenak and his Marauders stormed the planet shortly thereafter abducting the president and their cabinet of reformed gangsters the virtual simulation of steelport resurfaced from the DLC days allowing the creative minds at Val to play with reality and what spawned from this amalgam of disperate ideas was what jerus dubbed the biggest and best game the studio ever produced the scope of the open world supported jus' claim since the introduction of of superhuman abilities permitted an emphasis on verticality For the First Time Players could leap over buildings in a single bound and Sprint up the side of hulking alien Towers but expansion bred refinement evidenced in the mission structure overhaul Saints Ro III fed players missions via the in-game phone which developers viewed as painfully disconnected from the rest of the experience in response the alien infested follow-up shifted to a quest log structure that better guided users along talk of a bigger and better Saints Row further rang true when considering the seven different voice selections for the boss character Troy Baker Nolan North Laura Bailey and more all recorded their own versions of the protagonist from which players could choose in The Character Creator The Wider cast featured its share of big guns too with Terry Cruz portraying Ben King Daniel Day Kim returning as Johnny Gant and Keith David stirring as himself in the end Saints Ro 4 embodied a Beacon of Hope for valtion as the company weed through thq's business struggles on the cotch media purchase the title reviewed better than its predecessors going above and beyond with the Brand's trademark slapstick fund while also delivering a worthwhile experience for fans new and old most impressive was that production wrapped in under two years a new series record made possible by the fact that the entire Studio focused on one project but launching less than a month before the genre defining GTA 5 and still managing to set itself apart arguably constituted Saint TR 4's greatest feat Jim Boon addressed the potential concerns about the release window and his polygon sitdown noting that while Saints Row once wore the guise of a GTA copycat the two franchises had grown quite different over time simply put bition developers weren't worried about the bigger game overshadowing their work especially since the likes of Assassin's Creed and Red Dead Redemption had infused the genre with so much variety the market had plenty of room for all kinds of experiences and Saints R 4 represented a prime example selling a staggering 1 million units in its first week but we need to remember why we do what we do and today the stakes are even higher one year after Saints Row 4 started climbing the charts bition showcased two new Saints Row projects at PAX Prime 2014 the Gat Out of Hell expansion and Saint R 4 reelected the former constituted Standalone DLC for the fourth game and dragged players to the depths of Hell on PC as well as 7th gen and eighth gen consoles meanwhile reelected delivered an updated version of the 2013 ROM for PS4 and Xbox one complete with better resolution slightly upgraded lighting and marginal performance improvements both launched digitally and at retail in January 2015 giving customers two Saints Row games for the price of one if they purchase the bundled physical package reelected may have been a more polished version of volition's most grandiose Endeavor but the experimental nature of G Out of Hell boasted an Ambience that especially attracted eyeballs due in small part to the unexpected inspiration of Disney animated Classics developed in conjunction with conduit developer voltage software Gat Out of Hell invited players to assume the role of Johnny Gat or Kinsey Kensington hell provided the newest playground in which the protagonists traversed to rescue the boss's soul and defeat Satan creative director St jer's love of Disney informed the use of standard fairy tale tropes a birthday party kicked off the inciting incident in Sleeping Beauty for example so Gat Out of Hell Followed a kindred path bitions parody even included musical numbers wherein characters the devil included sang about their feelings Beyond indulging in a fairy tale veneer developers placed an emphasis on building a fun sandbox for players to fly around in so doing demon wings were conjured as the source of flight-based abilities summoning demon minions in combat and wielding weapons based on the seven deadly sins accentuated Johnny and Kinsey's Newfound Powers which to many critics and players made the experience all the more exciting oddly enough Gat out of Hell's multiple endings took the relative Simplicity of a defeat Satan in Hell premise and ramped it up to 11 one such conclusion had Johnny Gat earn an eternity in heaven another saw him become the king of hell but the canonical ending resulted in God rening the Saints Ro Universe this version of event set up a compelling future for the IP however franchise faithful would later argue that it marked the beginning of the end when [Music] I Saints R 4's final moments depicted the Saints on a spaceship in full control of the Galaxy Gat Out of Hell Followed that up with a quick trip to the land of Eternal damnation as far as developers were concerned there wasn't anywhere else to take the Third Street Saints design manager an shakar explained that internally Saints R 4 bore all the Hallmarks of a good stopping point the studio still held an affinity for open World Games with its trademark irreverence exploring that notion further led to a of mayhem's conception the GI Joe inspired action game overflowed with hero shooter likee qualities and though volition build it as a non Saints Row title the iconic flly imagery that overtook the marketing suggested otherwise ultimately Agents Of Mayhem was accepted as a Multiverse one possible outcome of the god reboots Earth ending in Gat out of hell this mattered little to Consumers who all but ignored the title agents of Mayhem touched down in August 2017 to dismal reviews on poor sales in documents about its acquisition of VII's parent company cach media in February 2018 THQ Nordic disclosed that Agents Of Mayhem had moved just 300,000 units worldwide a far cry from the 1 million sales Saints R 4 netted across a 7-Day period for the first time in a long time things were looking dire for the midwestern development house after Agents Of Mayhem crashed and burned returning to Saints r propers seemed a smart bet one problem loomed Saints R 4 ended with a gang assuming control of the Galaxy Gat Out of Hell put players face to face with the devil there was nowhere else to take this series from the creative team's point of view therefore while bition briefly considered another sequel Chief creative Officer Jim Boon said rebooting the franchise and revisiting its roots with a contemporary angle proved an easy decision gone were the days of superpowers and demon wings developers instead targeted a tone between that of Saints Row 2 and the third this meant sidelining the chaotic Shenanigans presented in the later installments Boon argued that while Valic harbored great pride for its past work it realized those experiences were products of a specific Zeitgeist th to say the developers weren't sure they felt comfortable promoting a game with weapons modeled after sex toys exaggerated action and the criminal power fantasy still reign supreme but conveying as much through a contemporarily resonant story Ed creative choices therefore volition devised a new story butress by a different gang of saints who operated in a setting not yet seen in Saints Row Santo aleso the fictional local Drew heavily from the American southwest a Las Vegas analog named Eldorado in one corner of the map Monte Vista a rich gated community occupied another corner and a financial district designed for vertical traversal enveloped the city's Center portion and the underlying theme behind it all contemporary crime players would once more build their own boss character someone responsible for leading the new Saints towards a future where they ran a criminal Empire three unfamiliar characters rounded out the rest of the gang Eli filled in for the nerd role having graduated with an NBA while fostering entrepreneurial aspirations nah played the part of elite driver her skills as a mechanic giving her yet another leg up finally there was Kevin a DJ who brought Charisma into the fold developers Imagine This as a way for players to establish the Saints through their own Vision slowly taking over territory and setting up criminal business fronts to their liking the reboot simply titled Saints Row marked a bold vision for the future something different and ultimately something series veterans couldn't accept maybe you should play Agents Of Mayhem cue the action music deep Silver's dissatisfaction with the early commercial performance of Agents Of Mayhem begat layoffs in September 2017 that affected a reported 30 plus poition staffers the Publishers cotch media brand under which volition directly worked had a high bar to clear following the misstep and the beginnings of the company's next steps manifested in August 2019 with a q1 interim report from THQ Nordic later known as embracer group stating that a new Saints Row was already deep in development this casual mention buried in financial filings stirred the pot enough that cotch media CEO Clemens kratis addressed the mysterious project in a gamesindustry.biz interview months later in particular kratis expressed confidence in the work in progress even shrugging off potential concern that Agents Of Mayhem might have spoiled the Saints Row chalice after all the latter still existed on its own terms so when an official reveal hit the Gamescom opening night live stage age in August 2021 fans wondered where the identity of the long running IP had escaped to the official announced trailer showcased various locals across Santo aleso placing special emphasis on the vegas-like district where members of the budding Saints intercepted an illegal arms deal between their wouldbe Rivals a contingent of franchise faithful made clear their disappointment with the reveal many argued that tone didn't befit the Saints roow they fell in love with that the new cast of characters looked nothing like typical gangsters con stituted another point of contention the dismay presented itself in numerous ways including in data and discourse strewn across social media notably the announcement trailer's most viewed YouTube videos split between the Playstation Xbox and Saints Row accounts experienced a disproportionate like to dislike ratio just 2 days after the Gamescom reveal website VGC reported the trailer's dislike button got more play on the Saints Row Channel than on PlayStation and Xbox feeds suggesting core fans were less enthusiastic about the product than General audiences the disdain especially showed in responses to posts on The Game's Twitter account one user told developers people would stop complaining if they substituted the new cast for real gangsters the studio replied with a gift saying haters going to hate which account managers deleted shortly thereafter another response from the fan elicited a hard stance comment from the game makers we are not backing down on this game read the tweet that went on to acknowledge the shock reaction backlash aside business were seeded as usual on the marketing front for Saints Row and on the surface the project sounded promising in many ways the team had taken inspiration from a series of modern action movies to reinvent the brand baby driver informed Saints Rose driving performance the overhauled combat system borrowed from John Wick's style and brutality meanwhile Hobs and Shaw's influence broke through via the reboots more over-the-top qualities but gameplay showings and marketing speak hardly changed the minds of those who'd written the game off not even the delay out of its previously scheduled PC and cross gen console release in February 2022 didn't alleviate the community's lack of confidence Saints are franchise has existed and done so many amazing things where do you go from there it's kind of hard to figure out naturally we looked at all of things that we've done in the past but the more we did that the more we started to discovered we're actually blocking ourselves from the massive creativity we have at the studio Jim boon had an update in November 2021 informing the public that Saints Rose's due date had been postponed to August 2022 the message emphasized Val's mission to create the best sa Row game yet ambition it wouldn't manage if the game arrived as previously scheduled doing the vision Justice required a protracted production cycle Boon added before insisting The Story characters and everything else shown publicly would remain intact from the outside looking in this bit seemed an attempt at preemptively mitigating ACC accusations of fan pressure forcing the studio to alter course contrarily the desire to achieve a higher standard of quality was cited as the reason for the monthlong delay the PC and cross gen console release didn't reflect these goals though a fun sandbox environment and robust customization options had no shot of ameliorating saints Rose Myriad technical bugs outdated gameplay mechanics and subjectively Bland storytelling all culminating in the franchise's worst reviewed installment the reboots sales figures similarly failed to meet internal expectations impacting embracer groups return on investment projections for that fiscal year consistent updates polished The Experience over time and post-launch DLC support extended the title's Life by a measure of months sadly it wasn't enough to keep the brand or its creator afloat in a year haunted by the constant churn of layoff related news stories in the gaming and Tech Industries the death Nowell rang for valtion Inc one of the industry's oldest development houses embrac Racer shuttered the firm in August 2023 for restructuring purposes approximately 12 months after saints Rose's divisive return as the legendary Studio Bid Farewell pundits and enthusiasts reflected on what had gone ay the failure of saints Rose unexpected final curtain call of course contributed to the sudden cease of operations but many would argue that such a fate had long been nipping at Bish's heels speaking to polygon on the Saints Ro for press tour in 2013 Jim Moon and design director Scott Phillips lamented the close calls the company faced when under thq's tutelage for one the financially disastrous release of uDraw had canceled out Saints R III's astounding sales figures with respect to the Publishers earnings Phillips suggested this had become a pattern that no matter how well volition performed its achievements were often overshadowed by thq's failures Boon admitted the studio faced uphill battles removed from outside influence and consequently lost quite a bit of money Agents Of Mayhem later demonstrated that very fact however embracer groups overzealous multi-million dollar purchases in the span of a few years did not a healthy company make considering its unprosperous output so while many contributing factors hammered the final nail in the floor dele shaped coffin including the alienation of fans with Saints rad 2022 some may struggle to see valan and sa's Rose fall as anything other than a repercussion of the industry's obsession with growth and [Music] consolidation thank you for watching we'd like to take this time to thank by name the generous patrons who have pledged to our Hall of Fame rewards here Alex Moretti and those currently subscribed to our producer rewards here Brock Piro Dar secone get wed.com Jonathan Kira May Landy K haes Mario Herrera milkshake if you enjoy our content please consider subscribing to our Channel and backing us on [Music] patreon [Music]

Channel: GVMERS

Views: 170,398

Keywords: saints row, saints row 2, saints row 3, saints row the third, saints row 4, saints row iv, saints row 5, saints row 6, saints row documentary, history of saints row, evolution of saints row

Id: v3-hDAeDfFw

Length: 60min 37sec (3637 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 28 2024