Saints Row IV Never Considered for Next Gen

[Cognimancer]

Saints Row IV Never Considered for Next Gen

Saints Row IV will be sticking to current-gen consoles to make sure it gets the development attention it deserves.

Crafting a launch title for a new console generation isn't easy. Not only is the team working with unfamiliar hardware, there's also a strict deadline to finish the game in time for the system to hit shelves. With Saints Row IV scheduled for a release during the transition from this console generation to the next, developer Volition had a decision to make about which consoles to put the game on - and it chose the current generation, where the game could get the attention it needed to be successful.

Volition developed Summoner as a PS2 launch title, and wasn't happy with how it turned out. Needless to say, the team wants to avoid repeating that mistake. "We'd been working on [Saints Row IV] for a little while and hearing the rumors about the timeline the new consoles might come out," says Volition's Jim Boone. "The big thing for us was, we wanted to make sure we had time to do the game right."

The first Saints Row also passed up a chance to be a launch title in favor of avoiding development rush, and it worked well for Volition. "Saints Row 1 was the blueprint," Boone says. "Doing what's right for the game rather than rushing to get something out."

Saints Row IV is headed to PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on August 20.

IGN [http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/18/whats-after-saints-row-4-for-volition]

Permalink

 

[Evil Smurf]

I like volition, they are not obsessed by pretty graphics. I can't wait to play Saints Row 4!

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Well of course they aren't going to release it for next-gen, the basically admitted the game was supposed to be a Saints Row 3 DLC that was promoted to sequel due to THQ's financial woes.

 

[SilverUchiha]

I like the attitude of not wanting to rush games out the door and taking time to work on them. I've seen so many games fall apart because they didn't get enough development time and everything felt so half-baked and unfinished.

(looking at you Sonic 06... you among so many others)

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

Anyone else remember Volition's Punisher game? Man what a great use of the license. The game got some flack for being over-the-top with the violence, but it was all so true to character for Frank Castle.

I know this is off topic. Just felt like heaping a bit of praise on ol' Volition.

 

[DaWaffledude]

Hats off to them. Takes a lot of guts to do something like this and I hope it works out.

 

[unstabLized]

Good. Fantastic. Less graphic whoring, more of everything else. Love it and praise it. More attitude like this is needed nowadays.

 

[Baralak]

Well of course they aren't going to release it for next-gen, the basically admitted the game was supposed to be a Saints Row 3 DLC that was promoted to sequel due to THQ's financial woes.

That is not true.

They already had SR4 in the works while they were working on DLC for SR3, the DLC expansion pack was getting so large though that they decided to roll it and SR4 together to make them both more substantial than either one being released on its own.

Yet the game's getting hate for having the same graphics, and somehow games like Call of Duty, or every freaking game running the Unreal Engine gets away with it.

 

[kajinking]

Anyone else remember Volition's Punisher game? Man what a great use of the license. The game got some flack for being over-the-top with the violence, but it was all so true to character for Frank Castle.

I know this is off topic. Just felt like heaping a bit of praise on ol' Volition.

Aw man that was a good game, I didn't even know anything about the Marvel Universe back then and enjoyed it a lot. I just wish they didn't limit your points when you used the interogations to kill the guys since that was just too much fun.

I still remember that Rhino kill to this day

 

[Baresark]

It just makes financial sense. Development costs would skyrocket and the adoption rates will be far far below any of the other consoles.

 

[tangoprime]

Anyone else remember Volition's Punisher game? Man what a great use of the license. The game got some flack for being over-the-top with the violence, but it was all so true to character for Frank Castle.

I know this is off topic. Just felt like heaping a bit of praise on ol' Volition.

Oh man... I worked at a gamestop my first year in college when that came out and got to take it home and play it. Man that game blew me away, I loved the interrogation bits too, that was a bit ahead of it's time, didn't really see anything like that until Splinter Cell: Conviction.

I remember how awesome Decent: FreeSpace-The Great War was too, I don't think Volition has done anything I didn't at least enjoy.

 

[Something Amyss]

I like volition, they are not obsessed by pretty graphics. I can't wait to play Saints Row 4!

Wasn't "pretty graphics" the excuse for basically everything they stripped from Saints Row the Third? From cutting the wardrobe way down to making the metropolis of Steelport smaller than Stilwater to less diverse locations?

Well of course they aren't going to release it for next-gen, the basically admitted the game was supposed to be a Saints Row 3 DLC that was promoted to sequel due to THQ's financial woes.

They didn't really need to admit it. I mean, they hyped "Enter the Dominatrix" as an add-on and them said "you know, we're going to make this a full game."

 

[Evil Smurf]

I like volition, they are not obsessed by pretty graphics. I can't wait to play Saints Row 4!

Wasn't "pretty graphics" the excuse for basically everything they stripped from Saints Row the Third? From cutting the wardrobe way down to making the metropolis of Steelport smaller than Stilwater to less diverse locations?

Well of course they aren't going to release it for next-gen, the basically admitted the game was supposed to be a Saints Row 3 DLC that was promoted to sequel due to THQ's financial woes.

They didn't really need to admit it. I mean, they hyped "Enter the Dominatrix" as an add-on and them said "you know, we're going to make this a full game."

I'd have called it a strap on for the game.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

More I hear about this game the more it seem like Volition is going, "Saints Row 3, but properly this time!"

I liked the Third, but it felt way cut down and under fed, and this is from someone who's never played a Saints game until 3. IV is shaping up to be what the Third was going to be, but couldn't be.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Well of course they aren't going to release it for next-gen, the basically admitted the game was supposed to be a Saints Row 3 DLC that was promoted to sequel due to THQ's financial woes.

That is not true.

They already had SR4 in the works while they were working on DLC for SR3, the DLC expansion pack was getting so large though that they decided to roll it and SR4 together to make them both more substantial than either one being released on its own.

Actually they admitted it was DLC being turned into a full game.

Specifically they said that the "Enter the Dominatrix DLC" grew into Saint's Row 4. As the game grew they decided to make what would have been Enter the Dominatrix into SR4 DLC.

But yeah, it was DLC to start.

 

[Strazdas]

how about this: develop a next gen title that isnt a laucnh title. you know we will need games AFTER launch too, right? tkae your time, as much as you want, and you wont need to follow the launch deadlines or anything. develop and release it when your ready, for the new product.

 

[Icehearted]

Well of course they aren't going to release it for next-gen, the basically admitted the game was supposed to be a Saints Row 3 DLC that was promoted to sequel due to THQ's financial woes.

Sound reasoning. If I may add my own supposition;

I doubt next generation console buyers will be as eager to fork out money for season passes and excessive DLC as people choosing to depend more on their present generation consoles for entertainment. It could be construed as the next generation's "horse armor", which was a fiasco which happened approximately at the beginning of this console cycle. The timing is just not favorable for such a thing, and considering their history a DLC fleece-a-thon isn't exactly out of the question.