Saints Row Team Will Be Folded into Gearbox

What amuses me is that they KNEW the game was polarising months before they released it and there are YouTube videos that have chronicled the insults they threw at fans on Twitter as proof.
They attacked the old fans, had too much pride to change course and released a buggy product all in the name of chasing a non-existant audience. This game should be taught in school as an example how not to reboot a franchise.

So much for their 'Bright Future' haha

@LifeGirl It's a weird game for sure.

I understand the desire to make it your own, and I absolutely agree that some of the old games characters and stories are a bit aged now. I know people have reverence to Johnny Gatt but I personally find all of the old Saints characters either completely forgettable or annoying as *****.

However, despite this big change, they didnt change the core gameplay loop at all! So you've got a game that plays like a 2008 open world game. Regardless of whether the new story/character direction works for you or not, the gameplay is just tired and needed fixing.

I have zero interest in another one of these, they had a chance and they proved themselves not willing to do the work

This is what happens when you change the soul of a product. Trying to be PC and woke with this franchise is like trying to change the whole essence of a person.

So now wonderlands content? I hope so.

To the surprise of no one, let's be honest.

It sounds like it's going to become a support studio. If so, what a floundering end for Volition. Saints Row was a blessing and a curse for them in the long run.

While it's never good to see a long running studio like Volition get dissolved basically, the writing was on the wall I suppose given how they've yet to release a good game in a long time.

I may still try Saints Row someday if it gets really cheap and these patches keep fixing the game (aside from the characters I suppose), but unfortunately the studio seemed to have lost the magic it had from back in the day. I actually always liked the series better than GTA, even if they were technically never as good.

Looks like we have the next ActiBlizz on our hands. Too many devs being ‘punished’ by being turned into support teams.

Let's hope other studios learn from this and listen to the fans.

After that absolute car crash I’m not surprised. Garbage writing for a ‘modern’ audience and bugs everywhere, the last patch fixed 200 alone or something. Awful product that doomed them.

I love the saints row series (even more than GTA). Didn’t try the new one though. Shame to hear they’re gone, I wish they’d have done an 80s take on the series.

I could tell the franchise had been gutted just from the free character creator. So I didn’t buy the game. And have been proven pretty much correct. The game isn’t worth our time.

I know I won't play another slots row game after this one. My SR4 Reelected PS4 version plays nice with its 60fps on PS5.

But so many people thought it sold extremely well, since it debuted within the top three spots of the sales charts. I keep saying that unless you see actual numbers, landing at or towards the top of the sales charts, on release, means absolutely nothing.

I thought the game was solid. Nothing special whatsoever, but fun open world dumbness.

But having said that, it was always going to struggle commercially. The marketing was questionable from day one and it just never had a 'hook' that would push it past people who were already interested. Reviews were also lukewarm and it obviously divided existing Saints Row fans, which is never good.

Not at all surprised to see it miss expectations, but I do think it's a shame that the team's just being folded into a company like Gearbox.

@ShogunRok I think its one of the blessings of being in a big organisation that they are not just out of work. At least they still have jobs.
Its been 15+ years since I was a dev, but in the 20 years I was making AAA games I was made redundant 6 times - and many of my friends in the business saw me as lucky as they were redundant far more often. With so many studios now being part of a larger organisation, at least they have better job security than was ever the case in the past.

This studio was a one trick pony that could never do anything else. Saints Row was past its prime and the studio should have done something new.

& the franchise will stay crap under gearbox if their recent games are anything to indicate their quality lol

The irony that the Reboot is the reason the franchise died lol

The game was trash but this is still not news that should be celebrated. Another mark against the consolidation currently going on.

I'm normally sad to see studios get folded, especially teams with a historic Franchise. But I am personally happy to see Volition go under. Between the horrible remake, and the way they gaslit fans for disliking their product, I hope they enjoy being a support team for future Borderlands games.

I love the Saints Row series but have come to realize I completely despise its fans. This franchise has always been "woke" and anyone playing them under different pretenses was entirely missing the point. It's disappointing that's what the narrative around this game became because the game itself is fine.

@MrSensical “ This franchise has always been "woke" “

Will you explain how ?

also , good . game is straight up garbage . they did it to themselves .

@WadeIsInsane “ The underdogs rising up to take over the city via politics”

• in the most non-woke , coolest way possible. even then , are you talking about SR 1-3 , because i really think that’s 4 you’re talking about , when most people stopped caring about the franchise because it was on a downward spiral with 3 but most people consider saints row to be 1-3 only . if you’re talking about SR4 then that’s a weak example .

“ Prominent POC protagonists”

• uh , who ? only POC was pierce . the boss was always hinted or advertised as being caucasian my guy . there’s ways to go about diversity and/or inclusion without forced woke undertones . that’s not the issue , the issue is how it’s blatantly misrepresented , inauthentic , and forced . that was never the case with S1-3 . S3 had kinzie , shaundie, pierce , zimos , and they were all so well written that the “woke” theory never crossed anyone’s minds because it all seemed natural .

“ option to make your main character as diverse as possible”

• you can’t be serious with this one , no really are you serious ? giving complete freedom and variety of customization options is not woke . to consider that to be so is just desperate and massive reaching . that’s literally just letting the player do whatever they want …

“ Oh yeah and being able to kiss some of your allies no matter your character's sex in 4.”

• All of the ten people who cared or actually liked SR4 have no response because who cares about 4 … the franchise always let you do things like that for ***** and giggles . that’s not “woke” either . letting players do wild things in video games is not “woke” . that’s actually the kind of games that get cancelled .

“ Just a few things that seem to go under the term "woke" these days.”

• lol , that’s ironic since i don’t think you understand what people mean when they say something’s “woke” .

@WadeIsInsane POC=/= minority . the definitions changed over the years to the point where it doesn’t even mean what it says . but you don’t even know what woke is , so you have a nice day boomer .

This was predicted, gat out of hell, AoM and this reboot three strikes and they're out, they were banking on fanboys and people who don't look into games beforehand and it still wasn't enough to make a decent profit to not strike out a third time.