What does the future of Saints Row really look like? Well, let’s be forthright, there probably isn’t one at this point – not after the bombardment of a 2022 reboot – but at least the series’ original design director is willing to give it another chance.
In a particularly extensive interview with E-sports expertChris Stockman – who once again played a key role in the creation of the original Saints Row – shares information Very thoughts on the sandbox series, the upcoming release of GTA 6 and the entire industry.
However, what caught our attention was Stockman’s comments about the aforementioned Saints Row reboot. As you can probably tell from the headline of this article, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the last part.
“When I found out they were rebooting Saints Row, I was talking to an old friend who was my old boss at Saints Row 1. He was a producer and I found out what they were doing and I thought, man, this is a terrible idea,” Stockman admits right away.
“What is this trying to be? You’re restarting the game, but why are you doing this?” he asks, repeating much of what current fans said at the game’s launch.
“There are a lot of characters in the show that people love. It wasn’t Saints Row at all. Just call it something else at this point. There are certain expectations for a Saints Row game, and they all fell short of expectations.”
Stockman adds that if he were given imaginative control, he would go back in time to the 1970s: “You’re running around with a crew of teenagers who became the main characters in the first game. You could really focus on a 1970s theme with big afros, bellbottoms, and period music.”
We have to admit, it sounds like a laugh.
He continues, “I would take it in a different direction so that you’re not competing with modern GTA games. You could say you’re spinning when everyone else is spinning.”
So why doesn’t Stockman try to resurrect Saints Row? Well, he’s been doing his thing since 2014, running a VR-focused studio called Bit Planet Games.
Perhaps this is a grain of hope for die-hard Saints Row fans, but Stockman also says he’d be interested in combining Saints Row with VR.
“I even thought about going to my guys at Meta and saying, hey, how about doing a VR project on Saints Row? I think that given the technology that’s coming in the future, an open world game could work, but it would have to be highly stylized. We wouldn’t try to compete with GTA, but I don’t think anyone can compete with GTA anymore,” he explains.
What do you think about Stockman’s comments? Would you like to see Saints Row return someday? And what would you like from such a rebirth? Don’t mess with the Saints in the comments section below.
