The Cancelled Saints Row Game That Doomed a Studio

In 2022, Volition attempted to revitalize the Saints Row franchise with a complete reboot. Moreover, the game was initially designed to reset the narrative and attract a new audience for the celebrated series. This ambitious project, however, failed to meet expectations, resulting in a disappointing commercial and critical reception. Therefore, what adjustments were made to avoid this failure for the next game?

Executives to Devs: “Start Over, But Make It Worse”

According to a new investigative report, the development team itself didn’t support the decision to abandon Saint Row‘s existing storyline. Instead, they had passionately advocated for continuing the saga with the original beloved characters. Ultimately, the team viewed a proper sequel as an opportunity to rectify previous narrative missteps and deliver a satisfying conclusion for long-time fans.

An in-depth video documentary, created by the YouTuber mrsaintsgodzilla2, originally provided this detailed information. In 2019, the creator visited the Volition development studio, three years after the launch of the ill-fated reboot. Furthermore, the team was already deep in development during this visit, as it was reported that the project was fundamentally different from the game that eventually shipped. Between that 2019 visit and the game’s 2022 release, corporate executives effectively instructed the Volition team to discard their work and commence development on an entirely new concept, as indicated by the report.

Additionally, the video’s claims stated that the project shown in 2019 was internally known as Saints Row Cinco. That game was conceived as a direct sequel to the original game series, not a reboot. It seems that the conclusion of Saints Row: The Third would’ve been continued in this version of the game. Following this initial approach, the game would’ve strategically retconned and erased the more outlandish, alien-focused events of Saints Row IV, returning the franchise to its grounded, gang-centric roots.

Pierce’s Unused Lines Are Crying Somewhere

The development of Saints Row 5‘s original vision had apparently progressed quite far. In fact, the voice actor for the character Pierce had already recorded his entire script of new dialogue. Sadly, the character didn’t feature in the final reboot product, meaning that this significant volume of voice work was ultimately abandoned and never used. Following the acquisition of Volition’s parent company, Deep Silver, by the conglomerate THQ Nordic, this pivotal shift in creative direction reportedly occurred.

THQ Nordic’s new leadership allegedly rejected the pitch for a direct sequel. Consequently, this decision led the team to start the development process over from scratch. Volition responded to this directive by crafting a new proposal for a reboot that still incorporated the original cast of characters. Although they hoped to find a compromise between a fresh start and honoring the series’ history, the new ownership ultimately rejected this second pitch as well.

The Ghost of Saints Row Cinco Haunts Volition

In the report, several intriguing features that were cut from the initial sequel plans were further explained. Among these strategies, many potentially greatly enhanced the eventual game’s depth and player engagement. As a result, the team has the best chance to avert the catastrophic failure that contributed to the studio’s demise. So, what exactly were these omitted elements? Namely:

• a sophisticated Criminal Ventures system that would have granted players the ability to customize and control entire districts of the city
• a deep crib customization feature for personalizing safehouses
• advanced body shield mechanics for more tactical combat

Whether these mechanics proved too overtly violent for THQ Nordic’s executives is unknown, but it would explain their removal during the development of the Saints Row reboot. In just one year, Volition was forced to close its doors due to the combination of the 2022 reboot’s poor performance and the wider financial difficulties faced by its parent company, Embracer Group. Unfortunately, the closure of the original studio is bad news for the authentic vision for Saints Row 5, as it’ll almost certainly never be realized.