Saints Row is exhibit A on how not to reboot a dormant franchise. PATREON: www.patreon.com/yongyea TWITTER: twitter.com/yongyea TOP PATRONS [CIPHER] - Devon B [BIG BOSS] - Jonathan Ball [BOSS] - Gerardo Andrade - Michael Redmond - Peter Vrba - Time Dragonlord [LEGENDARY] - BattleBladeWar - Theron Webb
They went into it with mentality that Saints Row needed to be updated for today's society. That was a death flag right there. I never laughed once during it. SR3 opening text crawl had more actually funny humor in it than this entire game. The moment they joked about the 'af' abbreviation... I felt a cringe so hard it was like having an out of body experience to escape the pain and hoping to avoid internal bleeding. And that speech to the gang to rouse 'em up? .... I never thought I'd say this; but I'd rather watch Shyamalans Last Airbender and After Earth back to back than ever listen to it again. A bad movie/game can be entertaining, But a bad comedy will only ever be pain.
Aye. Even likened the older fans to terrorists. Kinda hard to bank on a reboot when you're treating the fans of the IP like a menace instead of a consumer base.
That's what you get when you make a game, which already is an established IP with an established fanbase, for yourself not the players (consumers, the guys paying your bills) and on top of that mock them. Developers/Publishers are too arrogant to see it but that's just how it is. Games/Devs that go down this route are all most likely gonna fail. This entry was one of those cases and will certainly not be the last of em.
@@billytaylor1780 yeah just the bugs that shipped, all the other issues aside, should be enough to make them feel ashamed but nope they are defiant as they head to the unemployment line
As someone who has played all the main entries of Saints Row on release since SR1 2006, I’m actually glad it bombed. The devs didn’t listen to fan feedback for YEARS and insisted they knew best. They abandoned their core fan base and released a game that appealed to nobody. They didn’t understand what made the other games, ESPECIALLY the first two, so much fun. That balance of wacky and serious was a breath of fresh air.
Whenever someone says to me that SR2 was just as wacky as SR3, I show them the Ronin Campaign. Shit was literally better than some gangland crime thrillers.
@@JeffreyColey neighbors dont know how to criticize, erry entertainment product has humor in it, it dont mean non, saints row 1&2 is like iron man and da dark knight, da deep silver asset flips is like thor love and thunder and wonder woman 84 🤭
this game appeals to far leftists. it was made by far leftists to far leftists. what the developers don't know is that far leftists don't buy games in the number they think they do. likes on twitter is not equal to sales. She-hulk Disney+ series tweets got even 150k likes. the series is the least watched Marvel series. just cause people click like on twitter it doesn't mean they spend money.
They tried to appeal to both of their core fanbases, and ultimately failed to attract either. A lot of people like 3&4, and a lot of other people liked 1&2.
The rare situation where I HOPE the devs lose their jobs over this. They were so unnecessarily hostile to people with concerns, mocked those opposed to it, AND delivered utter trash. It wasn’t even worth a 2.
A lot of them will. Already been confirmed Volition as a brand is done, and will be merged into Gearbox to work on Borderlands as a support group, aka bugtesting and fixing as well as "polishing." Which means the people who get to keep their jobs will mainly be programmers and other tech positions. Writers, directors, etc will be the first getting the axe in that scenario. They're only staying open as Volition until they fill the contractual obligation of the Season Pass for DLC. Which means said DLC is going to be rushed and buggy, likely even moreso than the main game.
I still remember someone in the comments telling me, "it's not shit, you're just hopping on the hater bandwagon", "this isn't the death of the franchise", and most badly aged one of all "this won't hurt the company"
I got so much shit for calling this game out from the jump. That reveal trailer was a disaster! They tried to fool the fans with their graffiti wall teasers.
A lot of people said that! I for one just wanted to see how the game turned out when it actually released and people got the chance to actually play it! I don't doubt there's still people out there who won't admit the game this disaster is...
That first one I saw a lot on Twitter and now them same folks who said all that ended up blocking everyone because they couldn’t Handel the fact that the game didn’t do so well
@@abnnizzy I'm replaying the 3rd right now. It's truly a good Saints Row tho certainly not even close to the masterpiece that the 2nd was. But it still has the essence of what makes a good SR
@@shadowwhowalk yeah but I’d hardly call it a saints row experience, sure three upped the ante a bit with the goofiness, but it pushed it to the limit, four got so absurd that the world/universe they built up was just kinda left without any direction. I guess this is where you go when there is no where else to go. Down.
Fans were telling them for years exactly what they wanted and they completely ignored it and went in the opposite direction - a direction that even newcomers couldn't enjoy, it was that bad. Not surprised that it failed 🤷🏻♀️
The game had a fanbase with a particular expectation as to what Saints Row is, it's insane, irreverent and definitely not PC. Trying to 'sanitize' it even a little bit was their first mistake. If you can't or won't go all the way with an SR game, don't bother.
For real. Like, I have rarely if ever seen a fanbase express so clearly what they want. It was on wishlists, comments, threads, forum posts, video essays, Twitter posts, actual communication with some developers. You could do a basic search right now and you will find the entire game almost made and designed for them on a silver platter. People were following the development of this game long before it was even announced, communicating on Twitter and making TH-cam videos and the devs seemed so active in responding that for years fans were CONVINCED this was on the right track. The fact that they managed to mess this up at all, let alone this bad is nothing short of a miracle.
Yeah because most of them were experimenting with what works and what didn't not all of them were hits but the ones that struck gold stayed around with a good legacy. These days gaming is just too damn safe and boring, none of the bold experiments you see back then, almost every triple A brings nothing new to the market and its the indie games that have to push the boundary these days.
Nah games are just as good if not better than they’ve ever been. There’s just more games being made and releasing than ever before so now there are more good and bad games.
Wish devs would stop treating IPs with vocal fanbases, like personal pet projects. Its not for them. It should be for the fans of what they like or dislike.
@@t4rsus90as a publisher embracer not too bad. however in my opinion they are too loose with their projects leading to disaster of game and or mid. however i have respect for them for at least trying to revitalize and reviving older franchises. They just need to be a bit emphasis on the bit .more controlling and supervision of projects..where as compared to EA Activision 2k and the rest. they are a lot better then these. and Anna puran is quickly becoming a great publisher with some bangers. As for saints row yeah volition deserves and did this to themselves especially with everything they did.
They deserve what they got. They had an existing fan base that was willing to give them all the money for a quality product that went back to its roots yet they told us to fuck off. They told us they knew better. Was it my fault that I didn't want to buy a product that didn't appeal to me?
HAHAHA! In Volition eyes then, yes it is your fault that you don't like their wokeness. But for everyone else who have a braincell then we are all thinking of pissing on Volition grave once they go bankrupt. They deserve NO sympathy at all after everything Volition have done. Watch the company go up in flames and burn into ashes while we will all get hot-coffee (Or Tea, chocolate, preferred drink) and donuts together!
We probably haven't seen the last of Saint's Row. Eventually it'll probably pull a Devil May Cry (or Ghostbusters Movies, for that matter), go back to the original world and set of characters, and ignore the reboot. DmC at least, wasn't even that bad, just trying a bit too hard. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same thing for this Saint's Row reboot.
"Ah no no… That's not how this book is written. The Saints legacy ends here, not with a bang, but with a whimper." This what happens to not only to this series to the studio itself
@@oz_jones I’ll give you that- I like Dead Island 1 infinitely better than the subsequent entries. Personally (I’m objectively wrong and fine with it) I do like Dead Island more than Dying Light.
@@feeblereptilian Dead Island 1 was great, 2 felt like a dlc at best (never finished it), Dying Light is fun if you can play it all in one go but it's very slow and clunky (and if you drop it and come back later having forgotten controls, good luck remembering in time to survive wherever you were. Best just restarting from the beginning). Apparently theres an online mode, ive never bothered
Meritocracy is dead. People now get hired because HR likes superficial things like their heritage or the "oh we besties" factor that everyone has to act like friends in the workplace. Good writing doesn't exist at a company that doesn't seek people based upon their writing skills.
They had a good core with 1 and 2 then they decided to get further away from what It was with each entry until we got to whatever the current version is
@@priqq1 Yep, that's entertainment as a whole now. People are hired based on their skin color and ability to shout on twitter. The movies, TV shows, and games being made now, are largely based on what the blue check marks want. They don't actually buy the product or care, they just wanna be able to scream on social media so they feel important.
Remember about 6 months to a year after they released Agents of Mayhem "we didn't find our audience and the game failed, we're going to have to make better and listen to our players more" guess they should have practiced what they preached
@@TheFluBugZ i bought it back then because I loved the previous games and I wanted to like it. Played a few hours but had to quit because it was incredibly bad.
The worst thing is that the people responsible for deciding if there's a sequel or not will go "People just don't want saints row," when the real problem is that it's the writers who don't even know what saints rwo IS. Such a shame that saints row is effectively dead at this point.
Yup. Ever since the Devil May Cry reboot, I've been waiting for evidence this "modern audience" even exists, because every time it is the target audience, the game bombs.
"Modern audiences" is a code word for "sterilized". A lot of companies and brands are terribly afraid to offend even 1 single person, and a lot of them have people working within that are offended by even the slightest hint of controversy. This is why so many modern titles, whether it's games or movies or anything in that direction feel so soulless, corporate and sterile. And things have yet to reach the end. I think eventually the pendulum will start swinging the other way but I don't think it's anytime soon.
Yeah I'm probably the target audience. Game was bad but I treated it like a rubbish B-Movie and kinda liked it. But making a game for literally one idiot who can't tell a good game from a Ride to Hell is probably not a good business decision.
This franchise is one I hold so closely. Saints row 1 and 2 were among my most played and loved games. This was such a slap in the face. I genuinely believed that they were going to bring it back to what made it great. To hear this, I'm not disappointed. I'm tired. They had it coming.
Same 1 and 2 were the best ones i still remember getting saints 2 i got it like 2 days early then release as the store Game always fuk up the delivery and had them sent out early and my friend wound not talk to me for few days as he loved it more then me and did not want me telling him what went on in the game.
the modern video game industry has an amazing ability to waste hundreds of millions of dollars every year and still thrive no matter how much money they lose
Its ending. Thousands of people being fired, hundreds of projects being cancelled and a metric ton of live service games shutting down, especially in the mobile market. The industry is adjusting and we will probably see a few THQs in the next few years.
It all lies in mobile games. I've spoken to some people who have said that their professor have straight up told then to make mobile games because, "that's where the money is at." Whether that statement is wrong or not, greed can only get you so far.
Whenever a company or studio says it is "for modern audiences" I assume it is gonna be utter crap. I have yet to see or play anything with that tag on it actually be fun or entertaining. They care more about scoring points with people who will never buy the game and waste money on useless things instead of writing and quality. I bought the game and refunded it when I ran into the waffle glitch.
Just one little correction. The first trailers. No one said "IDK i'll wait" about it. It was blatant that no one liked it. You can even go back to see the first trailers. They had a 5-10% like and 90-95% dislike ratio. The Devs said to bad. It was 100% avoidable but they made the choice to Ignore their fanbase and they got burned.
Yeah, I was watching live when it was announced and the chat was completely agreed that it looked awful in terms of the direction (no gameplay obviously) but everyone could tell it would be a cringefest and not even in the typical Saints Row way.
@@OddboxGames i mean just see any live service shooter nowadays they are all unfun dogshit cause they keep giving what the pro players want instead of just embracing the fun aspects of the game
They need to take on board what the fans are saying, but also need to be discerning about whether it is feasible and fun to include. Not all ideas work out the way that it is intended.
I remember reading an article early in the "hype-building" run for the new Saints Row that stated the devs were gonna step away from the humor that made SR III and SR IV great, and go for a more modern sense of humor. That was a big red flag for me, and sadly, it turned out my misgivings were proven true.
From these past couple of years I've learn that if the word "modern" is anywhere included or mention on a games (even movies) it's gonna be suck 98% of the time.
I heard one of the writers said: "We wanted to create characters you would want to invite into your home" Either the writers didn't know what Saints Row was about, or they didn't care...
I would have invited the crew of the old games into my home. They were assholes, but likeable assholes. The new characters were bland and probably written in a board room.
Given that the writers apparently didn't really care about the franchise all that much to begin with, that line of thinking honestly makes too much sense!
This is where the phrase "The customer is always right" is true. Sell a product that your targeted customers would want, and dont piss them off when selling to them. I wouldn't have bought this game either way, but seeing how they treated the OG fans (and even the fans of the newer SR games) really pissed me off. It takes a special kind of hubris and egotism to act the way they did, and they deserve exactly what they got from us. I'm also still confused as to who the target audience was supposed to be for this game, because clearly no one liked it
I agree to an extent (about the customer always being right), I think the industry matters. For instance many scummy people go to restaurants and complain everytime just to get free meals or discounts. When it comes to the entertainment industry, gaming included I absolutely agree though.
I've heard the theory that it started out as a Live Service game before they chickened out and tried to awkwardly retrofit it into a single-player game at the last minute. That would explain a lot, wouldn't it?
@@jamesb7205 I guess that's the point OP is making. When they took out those live service features, nothing was really left except an empty game with lackluster missions and story.
Seeing as how the writers for the reboot apparently didn't give a hoot about the franchise to begin with, can we really be surprised it bombed this badly?
@@downsouthhustla Well, since Volotion is getting folded over into Gearbox and is going to provide backup on tech... what use will they have for writers or directors?
@@SeanStrife Don't worry too much, I'm sure there's another studio willing to pick them up After all, I hear Amazon has been trying to expand into the gaming sector.
Your major problems were student debt and some dude stealing your friends. Like literally holding them hostage and forcing them to be his friends. DAFUQ?
@@nathanielrasey you dont get to fight ANY gang leader. marshal leader dies in a cutscene. Pandoros leader killed in a cutscene. the dude who tried to take your friends KILLED IN A CUTSCNE. and we never hear any leader of the idols except one unmaed goon. there was ZERO BOSS FIGHT AGASINT GANG LEADERS in a saints row game of all freaking things.
@House Wilma That Jyunchi Boss fight is still one of the best, imo. I didn't even play this new one, but what you just said shows how incompetent Volition has become with their own fucking IP.
Considering the crap they pulled in marketing it before release, not surprised at all. But $100mil……honestly makes me think something more was going on. That’s way too much money.
They probably spent more money on marketing rather than the game itself like most AAA games. Then millions are pocketed by the managers and board members and ceo as bonuses.
@@RuiRuichi does anyone know how much marketing costs? Like how can paying a bunch of developers and writers and things of that nature cost less than making some trailers and having a couple of ads? I just don’t think that’s true and it doesn’t really make sense.
I wonder where that money even went. SRR's game engine is just a shittier version of AOM's, their new characters are self-insert generic, the story is barely there and half-assed, most of their DLC is just like 2 or 3 pieces of random accessories. 100 million on what the reboot turned out to be is very questionable.
I ma baffled by how could that piece of steaming pile of shit cost 100M to develop, i believe everyone was payed 6 figures in there, the more "oppressed" the person was the higher the figures would go, absolute insanity.
I remember them saying they were going to make a game somewhere between 2 and 3, taking the best parts of each, but it seems more like they took the worst parts of each. I feel like them not saying that it was profitable speaks for itself. considering how the devs were acting before release, if this game had a massive ROI they'd definitely be throwing it in people's faces.
@@feeblereptilian No, Saints Row 4 was definitely not as good as 3 or 2, and not what the series deserved to go out on, but no way in hell you can fairly compare 4 to 22. Saints Row 4 was an enjoyable and fun game that just failed to be legendary.
@@feeblereptilian I've done at least 3 complete playthroughs already, it's not the first game I reach for when I think I'd like to enjoy some Saints Row fun but I at least feel like I got my moneys worth out of it. That's something I doubt Saints Row 22 could achieve from what I hear out of reviewers.
I did not like 3 and 4. I hated the drift away from the more realistic gang gameplay. the gameplay on 3&4 is okay but thats not really what I played saints row for.
Nothing have ever come out of twitter that have been good. I'm still proud of myself to never own an account in that shit-hole of a digital landfill of garbage!
1) Appreciate and respect the source material. 2) Don't capitulate to just one audience, especially one who doesn't even buy your product. These devs utterly failed, and quite honestly they should change industries if they can't keep from injecting their own narrow-minded world views into everything they touch.
1. If you want your game to garner success then make a game you would enjoy, do not forget that you are also part of the playerbase 2. Unless you are sure this potential new "audience" plays games, do not change anything about he series for them 3. Always respect the source material, you can simply add any elements you want without changing or removing anything Any company that fails to follow even one of these tend to make shir products
@@driverman9528 well technically they sell a lot so it is working anyways... i just gave up with those because people either don't care or are too stupid feeding those triple A studios...
It's almost like removing literally everything that people actually liked about the series and trying to pander to a none existent Twitter people audience was a bad idea. It's almost like we have quite a few examples of this already and yet they just keep doing it for some reason.
You mean the strategy to think "Our old fans will swallow anything, and we should bring in plenty of new fans by adding all the things non-gamers talk about on twitter".
How have we gotten to this point where companies will not only ignore the fans, but make content in the opposite direction of their fan based interest? They make a game to make themselves happy, spread hate and delusions of grandeur on social media towards the fan base, and then wonder where they went wrong. It’s damn near glorious if it wasn’t so pathetic.
Gotta hand it to them, this sort of failure takes a lifetime to hone. I imagine they've been disappointments from day one and somehow it's still been all downhill since then.
It's not a constant, but every time I've seen a major project where the leads say they're making something "for modern audiences", it's never really worked out well...
They have nobody but themselves to blame for this one. They had an established IP and a loyal fanbase who was willing to give their hard earned cash for a satisfying product. All they had to do was play nice and do their best to make a decent game. But they * dun f@cked it up*
As others have said you could have literally just copy and pasted EVERYTHING about the game from forum posts from gameplay to story to side activities and everyone would have been happy. They ignored all of it somehow.
Well the series was known for being over the top gang stereotypes that had dildo bats and had a spoof of Wendy’s restaurant called “Freckle Bitch’s.” This new reboot was going for a weird modern day activist type game that was afraid of offending people.
Honestly they shot themselves in the foot by not only ignoring the players concerns but actually attacking them for being concerned. Developer "Then dont buy it" Players "Ok"
This was a tipping point for some people. It came out right at a time that a majority of people have finally realized waiting to see if a game gets good reception before buying has tipped against “make the money before people realize the scam” business model for triple a studios.
If they didn't do Agents of Mayhem I'd understand a blunder like this... maybe... but considering they made the mistake of Agents of Mayhem (which I think had some good to it but that's another story) they absolutely had to play it safe. They didn't and they ignored people because they were so desperate to attach themselves to this vision...
Wait you're telling me the game that made unnecessary changes,wanted to cater to a audience that doesn't exist and insulted it's fans failed? What a surprise
I swear the past few years has been like someone casting Crucio on me, but my torture is watching as my favorite franchises are destroyed one at a time
It's pretty telling when the spokesperson for the game is concerned about "making money" instead of "Disappointing fans" that the game was doomed to fail. Games more concerned with being an enjoyable experience first tend to make the money it deserves. (Atleast in the long run)
A lot of ppl that get into these companies now only go for the profit, back in the day it was impossible for non-gamer normies to get into companies like blizzard or valve regardless of how smart they are, passion for your work is essential in creative market.
More specifically - a lot of the people that get into these companies are brought in by the board/CEO to only go for the profit. More and more of them are chasing the short term gains, big bonus and golden handshake. The days of AAA studios are gradually running out and as they fail the Indies are picking up the slack. 2040/50 will be like the 90s and 00s Golden Age until those new Indies become the new triple A's and the 50 year cycle starts again. Just kidding I'm full of shit, but seriously, Indies are great. Except the scammers.
I feel the biggest problem with this mindset of reinventing existing IP to cater to “modern audiences” never works. They forget the reasons why saints row 1 and 2 were liked was because the team behind it were passionate about it, they didn’t just go “okay I’m gonna create a cash cow that will generate money regardless cause it’s popular”. They never make any attempts to understand why people like it let alone fans, a golden rule people forget is that it’s more expensive to lose a loyal customer than a new customer. Notable when they dogpile people who care about the franchise and cater to bunch of newbies that play the game and move on to another game cause they don’t care. This trend is just silly and unnecessary mainstream or not. There’s no creativity in doing reboots of existing IP by a bunch of people who don’t have passion and just only see games as a business service.
I have to think you need a much bigger IP for that to even make sense. Saints Row isn't like Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty where "hey yeah everyone knows *that* game!" You need to capitalize on the dedicate fanbase by giving them what they want or it won't work. You could try this with a Star Wars game because people will just at least try anything with Star Wars.
@@isaacramirez2098 right. I feel like you can’t have 2 with out 1. Just off of the story alone. It was great character building between the 2 games. Only thing that kept my interest in 3 was Johnny Gat
Saints Row 2 to me was the perfect sweet spot. It had some absolutely dark, emotionally impactful moments. Then it also had you fighting an army of ninjas. The entire arc with Carlos and the Brotherhood sticks with me.
i loved 3 the most myself the companions were great and the comedic moment being treated completly seriously unlike 4 made it a real blast. like the final descion to take down stag or the syndicate at cost of loosing one of your friends on either chouice i still remeber. and i remeber how EPIC it felt fighting STAG like it really was a Supersoilder unit being sent after supercriminals like the saints. who im salty just got ended in the first mission of saints 4.
@@Kagetora- no i enjoyed 4 it just wasnt my favourite though zynyak was definitly my favourite saints row villian overall. it just lacked some of those more serious moments a little so often to be as good as 3 to me. though it made a for a grand finale send off for the series as a "you could go bigger then this" moment. though i did hope for a sci fi themed galactic grandtheft auto style game.
@@housewilma4904 I wasn't disappointed with 3. I just had way more hours with 2 and really enjoyed Stillwater. I liked the tone of the game. It just checked more of the boxes for me but definitely got love for 3 as well.
I’m with you, Saints Row 2 got the balance just right. And Stillwater in that game felt the most fleshed out and explorable. I played a lot of 3 and 4 when they released, but 2 is a game I still go back to on my 360 regularly.
Both 60k and 100 employees are on the low end many developers make over 80k and AAA game studios can employee over 1000 devs not to mention artists, voice actors, executives, Q and A testers, the rent for the building, the licensing for the engine, marketing budget that is sometimes the same or more then the game itself costs to produce. 100 million is on the low side for a “AAA” game these days.
pretty easy to do when Joe has just as much himself given up on doing anything new or creative. lol Remember when all the old fans were mad and he told them to fuck off before eventually apologizing. sounds just like Volition lol
Saints Row is a perfect example of what happens when you have a team who are more invested in Twitter and Fixing "problematic" issues with a franchise then making a working game.
I actually recently learned of this twitter account that was batsh*t insane and was full of it just talking crap about old Saints Row fans saying the game was gonna be great....Turns out later they were completely ousted for doxxing and got really quiet when the game's numbers came out...
It is a bit more than 2 million at say $60 on average if you account for taxes, shipping, cut from the platform, etc. Also account that some sales say later on are likely on sales/discounted. So the exact number needed to break even is likely higher.
I have a list of rules for rebooting or adapting. Among them are: -Get people who care about whatever the subject is. -While light jokes are alright, don't actively attack your audience.
This is with out question the final nail for Saints Rows franchise I highly doubt where going to get any sequel or anything form the saint rows franchise anytime in the future
it ended with 4 the boss did everything the saints could ever hope to accomplish heck even gate out of hell finished off the supernatural angle. if it ended at 3 at be sad but 4 was a big a explosive finnally as one could hope for as send off game.
They're not activists. They're trying to pander to activists. Problem is: Actual activists are smarter than that. I know, because I am one. They didn't get it at all. It was just cringe.
The video “Millenial Writing” by ShreddedNerd explains very well why Saints Row failed, along with the scary pattern that is shown through many games in the industry. Highly Recommend
@@EJ_Red Millennials wrote it to appeal to Gen Z. They became the "how do you do, fellow kids?" They complained about. Hit their mid-30s and started acting like 50 year olds. Only difference is they're more spoiled and can't afford a home.
Who would have thought not listening to fans, not following previous games, and changing the game to fit modern audiences would bomb so hard. I think all the media that's done the same the last few years showed us that's exactly what would happen.
5:05 omg why are they spending more money advertising it than actually making it, if you’re game is good people would recommend it over and over and frankly that’s the only advertising anyone needs, just look at all the successful indie games.
For the rest of the year (and probably beyond), I'll be holding up Hi Fi Rush as an example of how to do it right. A game made by enthusiastic people, around an engaging concept, and sold for $30, and it's walking all over a lot of "Triple AAA" titles.
What confused me the most about this game is the fact that they marketed the hell out of the character creator feature and not much else (Well, I may be dumb because that might not be the only thing advertised, but that’s all I saw)
Something to note: Game came out around end of Aug and it's major patch came on November. This means the game needed at least 2-4 months to at least be stable at launch
@@robertcondon5933 I think 2 and 3 are better games but there’s something unique about how over the top SR4 was. Licking the candy cane door for 5 minutes and the dance party at the end just feel like quintessential Saints Row silliness
@@robertcondon5933 1 & 2 are the best to me. Once I seen the heist with Johnny Gat heads in 3, I knew the series was taking a turn for the worst. I understand why kids liked 3 & 4. The over the top story just isn’t for me, not to say that it can’t be a good game.
Saints Row is exhibit A on how not to reboot a dormant franchise.
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They went into it with mentality that Saints Row needed to be updated for today's society.
That was a death flag right there.
I never laughed once during it.
SR3 opening text crawl had more actually funny humor in it than this entire game.
The moment they joked about the 'af' abbreviation... I felt a cringe so hard it was like having an out of body experience to escape the pain and hoping to avoid internal bleeding.
And that speech to the gang to rouse 'em up?
.... I never thought I'd say this; but I'd rather watch Shyamalans Last Airbender and After Earth back to back than ever listen to it again.
A bad movie/game can be entertaining,
But a bad comedy will only ever be pain.
Did you forget DMC Devil May Cry?
Sell 2mln units at initial price...
From what I recall, people behind the game were mocking players who had concerns about its direction. Hard for me to feel much sympathy.
Many such cases...
Aye. Even likened the older fans to terrorists. Kinda hard to bank on a reboot when you're treating the fans of the IP like a menace instead of a consumer base.
Amen brother.
I love Saints Row. But, these devs killed the original creators vision. They get what hey deserve. I'll keep playing Saints Row 2 on 360.
That's what you get when you make a game, which already is an established IP with an established fanbase, for yourself not the players (consumers, the guys paying your bills) and on top of that mock them.
Developers/Publishers are too arrogant to see it but that's just how it is.
Games/Devs that go down this route are all most likely gonna fail. This entry was one of those cases and will certainly not be the last of em.
the fact the devs still think they made a masterpiece that people just didn't understand means there is no hope for this series, RIP
Arrogant wankers
imo it was dead after Saints Row The 3rd. That was the last good/fun one.
😂 The devs are egotistical and delusional.
@@billytaylor1780 yeah just the bugs that shipped, all the other issues aside, should be enough to make them feel ashamed but nope they are defiant as they head to the unemployment line
Literally delusional lmao
As someone who has played all the main entries of Saints Row on release since SR1 2006, I’m actually glad it bombed. The devs didn’t listen to fan feedback for YEARS and insisted they knew best. They abandoned their core fan base and released a game that appealed to nobody. They didn’t understand what made the other games, ESPECIALLY the first two, so much fun. That balance of wacky and serious was a breath of fresh air.
Whenever someone says to me that SR2 was just as wacky as SR3, I show them the Ronin Campaign. Shit was literally better than some gangland crime thrillers.
@@JeffreyColey neighbors dont know how to criticize, erry entertainment product has humor in it, it dont mean non, saints row 1&2 is like iron man and da dark knight, da deep silver asset flips is like thor love and thunder and wonder woman 84 🤭
this game appeals to far leftists. it was made by far leftists to far leftists. what the developers don't know is that far leftists don't buy games in the number they think they do. likes on twitter is not equal to sales. She-hulk Disney+ series tweets got even 150k likes. the series is the least watched Marvel series. just cause people click like on twitter it doesn't mean they spend money.
@@SapiaNt0mata nah no one likes dis asset flip
They tried to appeal to both of their core fanbases, and ultimately failed to attract either. A lot of people like 3&4, and a lot of other people liked 1&2.
The rare situation where I HOPE the devs lose their jobs over this. They were so unnecessarily hostile to people with concerns, mocked those opposed to it, AND delivered utter trash. It wasn’t even worth a 2.
A lot of them will. Already been confirmed Volition as a brand is done, and will be merged into Gearbox to work on Borderlands as a support group, aka bugtesting and fixing as well as "polishing." Which means the people who get to keep their jobs will mainly be programmers and other tech positions. Writers, directors, etc will be the first getting the axe in that scenario.
They're only staying open as Volition until they fill the contractual obligation of the Season Pass for DLC. Which means said DLC is going to be rushed and buggy, likely even moreso than the main game.
Volition is done, and they're getting what they deserve.
I wouldn't even play it even if its given out for free
@@freedantheeternal Borderlands? An already bad franchise with bad writing lol. Awesome
Have you seen the edited cutscenes with laugh track? The only best thing that came out from this dumpster fire
I still remember someone in the comments telling me, "it's not shit, you're just hopping on the hater bandwagon", "this isn't the death of the franchise", and most badly aged one of all "this won't hurt the company"
If it's not a shitty game, it shouldn't be on the worst games of 2022 list.
Yeah now they are nowhere to be seen, I’m tired of people being contrary just to be contrary. The game is trash.
I got so much shit for calling this game out from the jump. That reveal trailer was a disaster! They tried to fool the fans with their graffiti wall teasers.
A lot of people said that!
I for one just wanted to see how the game turned out when it actually released and people got the chance to actually play it!
I don't doubt there's still people out there who won't admit the game this disaster is...
That first one I saw a lot on Twitter and now them same folks who said all that ended up blocking everyone because they couldn’t Handel the fact that the game didn’t do so well
Wait a minute... "The Saints' legacy ends here, not with a bang, but with a whimper."
Killbane planned it all!!! His words were literal!!!!!
They knew it. The 3rd was truly the last good Saints Row game.
@@abnnizzy I'm replaying the 3rd right now. It's truly a good Saints Row tho certainly not even close to the masterpiece that the 2nd was. But it still has the essence of what makes a good SR
@@abnnizzy 4th was a good superhero game tho
@@shadowwhowalk yeah but I’d hardly call it a saints row experience, sure three upped the ante a bit with the goofiness, but it pushed it to the limit, four got so absurd that the world/universe they built up was just kinda left without any direction. I guess this is where you go when there is no where else to go. Down.
it was all downhill after SR2
"The Saints' legacy ends here, not with a bang, but with a whimper.." - Killbane, 2011
with a wet fart more like.
Mexican Bane W
@@renzolockhart Bane is Mexican lmao
😬 😬 😬
Not even a whimper, but a mocking sound, like someone doing an offensive impersonation of someone with severe cerebral palsy.
Fans were telling them for years exactly what they wanted and they completely ignored it and went in the opposite direction - a direction that even newcomers couldn't enjoy, it was that bad. Not surprised that it failed 🤷🏻♀️
Let's not forget bashed and mocked us
If they had made the wokies an enemy gang, that would have made millions.-
What did they think was gonna happen? Company run by npcs
The game had a fanbase with a particular expectation as to what Saints Row is, it's insane, irreverent and definitely not PC. Trying to 'sanitize' it even a little bit was their first mistake. If you can't or won't go all the way with an SR game, don't bother.
For real. Like, I have rarely if ever seen a fanbase express so clearly what they want. It was on wishlists, comments, threads, forum posts, video essays, Twitter posts, actual communication with some developers.
You could do a basic search right now and you will find the entire game almost made and designed for them on a silver platter.
People were following the development of this game long before it was even announced, communicating on Twitter and making TH-cam videos and the devs seemed so active in responding that for years fans were CONVINCED this was on the right track.
The fact that they managed to mess this up at all, let alone this bad is nothing short of a miracle.
That 100 million dollar budget went to their cafés, gyms, and rec rooms in their office.
Lol
You know they never bothered to even touch the gym lol
Gyms? Those are fatphobic. No way they had those. All the money went to paying rent.
My guess is that money went into synthesizing their own farts into powerful hallucinogenic drugs.
@@dannybrine8718 That's where R* got their new dlc idea!
Volition is a perfect example on how to not only kill their own, beloved franchise, but to piss off their own fanbase altogether.
I’d say Konami is but that’s a long dead punching bag lol
And go bankrupt at the same time
@@sadmarinersfan8935 Who was Konami again? lol jm
@@sadmarinersfan8935 Slient hill, enough said.
@@sadmarinersfan8935 in the legendary words of Jim Sterling, "Fuck Konami", I'm still pissed off about MGS
Early generation games being better than modern day games seems to be a pattern these days.
Yeah because most of them were experimenting with what works and what didn't not all of them were hits but the ones that struck gold stayed around with a good legacy. These days gaming is just too damn safe and boring, none of the bold experiments you see back then, almost every triple A brings nothing new to the market and its the indie games that have to push the boundary these days.
Nah games are just as good if not better than they’ve ever been. There’s just more games being made and releasing than ever before so now there are more good and bad games.
Speaking of, I can vouch that the Metroid Prime remaster freaking slaps. Highly recommend for those with AAA fatigue.
@@jaxsonburch4914 AAA games didn't used to be bad as the standard. Games are absolutely not better nowadays.
Same with movies sadly.
Devs: "If you don't like it don't buy it!"
Gamers: (don't buy it)
Devs: _REEEEE_
Wish devs would stop treating IPs with vocal fanbases, like personal pet projects. Its not for them. It should be for the fans of what they like or dislike.
@@GeteMachine 343 should learn from what you said
If only if gamers were able to do that without devs telling them to do that.
Cry about it, Porkbutts. Get Tanked.
Npc
If i was Embracer group i would investigate where that 100 mil went, cause it damn sure doesn't look like it went into the game.
But then you'd be Embracer, and no one deserves that.
@@t4rsus90as a publisher embracer not too bad. however in my opinion they are too loose with their projects leading to disaster of game and or mid. however i have respect for them for at least trying to revitalize and reviving older franchises. They just need to be a bit emphasis on the bit .more controlling and supervision of projects..where as compared to EA Activision 2k and the rest. they are a lot better then these. and Anna puran is quickly becoming a great publisher with some bangers. As for saints row yeah volition deserves and did this to themselves especially with everything they did.
Exactly. It looks like a damn Xbox 360 game.
You got that right there must have been some embezzlement going on in the company
@@tylertheguy3160 at least 360 games were actually fun.
They deserve what they got. They had an existing fan base that was willing to give them all the money for a quality product that went back to its roots yet they told us to fuck off. They told us they knew better. Was it my fault that I didn't want to buy a product that didn't appeal to me?
HAHAHA! In Volition eyes then, yes it is your fault that you don't like their wokeness.
But for everyone else who have a braincell then we are all thinking of pissing on Volition grave once they go bankrupt. They deserve NO sympathy at all after everything Volition have done. Watch the company go up in flames and burn into ashes while we will all get hot-coffee (Or Tea, chocolate, preferred drink) and donuts together!
@@haaxxx9 100%
@@fauxchung3189 my wallet feels heavier and happier since I didn’t waste anything on this trash :D
We probably haven't seen the last of Saint's Row. Eventually it'll probably pull a Devil May Cry (or Ghostbusters Movies, for that matter), go back to the original world and set of characters, and ignore the reboot.
DmC at least, wasn't even that bad, just trying a bit too hard. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same thing for this Saint's Row reboot.
@@KotCR and the definitive edition fixed a lot of issues so it's rather nice now. Nothing compared to DMC 5 though
"Ah no no… That's not how this book is written. The Saints legacy ends here, not with a bang, but with a whimper." This what happens to not only to this series to the studio itself
Thq went out of business like half a decade ago what you mean? Deep silver was never good- they made dead island riptide.
@@feeblereptilian I am still buttmad about that teaser. At least we got Sam B and the classic "Who do You Voodoo, Bitch?"
@@oz_jones I’ll give you that- I like Dead Island 1 infinitely better than the subsequent entries. Personally (I’m objectively wrong and fine with it) I do like Dead Island more than Dying Light.
@@feeblereptilian Dead Island 1 was great, 2 felt like a dlc at best (never finished it), Dying Light is fun if you can play it all in one go but it's very slow and clunky (and if you drop it and come back later having forgotten controls, good luck remembering in time to survive wherever you were. Best just restarting from the beginning). Apparently theres an online mode, ive never bothered
😶
Maybe they need good writing and good gameplay, not the mess we got.
Meritocracy is dead. People now get hired because HR likes superficial things like their heritage or the "oh we besties" factor that everyone has to act like friends in the workplace. Good writing doesn't exist at a company that doesn't seek people based upon their writing skills.
They had a good core with 1 and 2 then they decided to get further away from what It was with each entry until we got to whatever the current version is
@@priqq1 Yep, that's entertainment as a whole now. People are hired based on their skin color and ability to shout on twitter. The movies, TV shows, and games being made now, are largely based on what the blue check marks want. They don't actually buy the product or care, they just wanna be able to scream on social media so they feel important.
@@JiffGaming lol people have always been hired based on their skill color. Why do you think diversity quotas exist these days?
But what about safety and inclusivity?
Remember about 6 months to a year after they released Agents of Mayhem "we didn't find our audience and the game failed, we're going to have to make better and listen to our players more" guess they should have practiced what they preached
If I remember correctly between Agents and the reboot, most of the old guard had left. But yeah, I agree. They really didn't listen at all
@@TheFluBugZ their logo is litterally a face without ears
@@Scouali Valid point good sir.
@@TheFluBugZ i bought it back then because I loved the previous games and I wanted to like it. Played a few hours but had to quit because it was incredibly bad.
@@brb9568 Had the same reaction with AoM. Wanted to like it, but missions were repetitive and kept glitching out on me.
The worst thing is that the people responsible for deciding if there's a sequel or not will go "People just don't want saints row," when the real problem is that it's the writers who don't even know what saints rwo IS. Such a shame that saints row is effectively dead at this point.
“Updated for modern audiences”
Well there’s your reason, “modern audiences” is a sure fire way to fail.
Yup. Ever since the Devil May Cry reboot, I've been waiting for evidence this "modern audience" even exists, because every time it is the target audience, the game bombs.
@@freedantheeternal literally, every time lmao.
Velma was made for "modern audiences" too, and it's complete trash.
"Modern audiences" is a code word for "sterilized". A lot of companies and brands are terribly afraid to offend even 1 single person, and a lot of them have people working within that are offended by even the slightest hint of controversy.
This is why so many modern titles, whether it's games or movies or anything in that direction feel so soulless, corporate and sterile.
And things have yet to reach the end. I think eventually the pendulum will start swinging the other way but I don't think it's anytime soon.
Because the modern audience doesn’t exist; they don’t play anything outside of their safe spaces nor do they play video games anyway.
This is what happens when you make a video game for an audience that doesn't exist
Yeah I'm probably the target audience. Game was bad but I treated it like a rubbish B-Movie and kinda liked it. But making a game for literally one idiot who can't tell a good game from a Ride to Hell is probably not a good business decision.
@@guguy00Some people like so bad it’s good kind of games, though it failed to grab even that audience
The "modern audiences" myth
@@germanyballwork5301 is not a myth, if you think that, you yourself are the modern audience.
@@kayef5724 cannot confirm, everything I've watched/played that goes with that dreaded phrase has missed the mark completely for me
This franchise is one I hold so closely. Saints row 1 and 2 were among my most played and loved games. This was such a slap in the face. I genuinely believed that they were going to bring it back to what made it great. To hear this, I'm not disappointed. I'm tired. They had it coming.
TELL EM!!!
Same 1 and 2 were the best ones i still remember getting saints 2 i got it like 2 days early then release as the store Game always fuk up the delivery and had them sent out early and my friend wound not talk to me for few days as he loved it more then me and did not want me telling him what went on in the game.
the modern video game industry has an amazing ability to waste hundreds of millions of dollars every year and still thrive no matter how much money they lose
A lot the the publishers have fingers in the mobile games pie, the money from those make it possible to fund ESG driven shit like this.
Its ending. Thousands of people being fired, hundreds of projects being cancelled and a metric ton of live service games shutting down, especially in the mobile market.
The industry is adjusting and we will probably see a few THQs in the next few years.
Thats not true, so many companys broke down over the years, even thriving ones sometimes fail.
It all lies in mobile games. I've spoken to some people who have said that their professor have straight up told then to make mobile games because, "that's where the money is at." Whether that statement is wrong or not, greed can only get you so far.
Speaks well to the customer base doesn't it?
Whenever a company or studio says it is "for modern audiences" I assume it is gonna be utter crap. I have yet to see or play anything with that tag on it actually be fun or entertaining. They care more about scoring points with people who will never buy the game and waste money on useless things instead of writing and quality. I bought the game and refunded it when I ran into the waffle glitch.
@Master Oak 100%
The fabled modern audience that never seem to actually watch or play anything catered to them.
It's like catering meat to a vegan even though they'll never consume it
Nor have I
This has me really worried about the new Witcher game in development, really don’t want it to end up like this shite game.
I'd love to see a cost breakdown of what that 100mil was spent on 🤔
the Devs lied about the state of the game, Yong yea does not give accurate information he only reads from tweets otherwise he would mention this
$90 million: Lattes, hair dye, professional nose ring polishing
On it's shitty ass dialogue
I imagine it was mostly on corny writers, since they seem to be in high demand these days
Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
Just one little correction. The first trailers. No one said "IDK i'll wait" about it. It was blatant that no one liked it. You can even go back to see the first trailers. They had a 5-10% like and 90-95% dislike ratio. The Devs said to bad. It was 100% avoidable but they made the choice to Ignore their fanbase and they got burned.
Yeah, I was watching live when it was announced and the chat was completely agreed that it looked awful in terms of the direction (no gameplay obviously) but everyone could tell it would be a cringefest and not even in the typical Saints Row way.
Developers really need to stop telling people what they want and actually listen to what they want.
i mean to be fair if devs gave people exactly what they wanted most games would suck
@@marlon.8051 How would it suck if it's what we want?
@@OddboxGames i mean just see any live service shooter nowadays they are all unfun dogshit cause they keep giving what the pro players want instead of just embracing the fun aspects of the game
They need to take on board what the fans are saying, but also need to be discerning about whether it is feasible and fun to include. Not all ideas work out the way that it is intended.
but how are they going to push ESG/new world order/bolshevik propaganda down our throat then ??? :x
I remember reading an article early in the "hype-building" run for the new Saints Row that stated the devs were gonna step away from the humor that made SR III and SR IV great, and go for a more modern sense of humor. That was a big red flag for me, and sadly, it turned out my misgivings were proven true.
That’s the problem, a modern sense of humor these days is basically a complete lacking in sense of humor.
A modern sense of humor means the game is marketed to California not for a worldwide audience.
From these past couple of years I've learn that if the word "modern" is anywhere included or mention on a games (even movies) it's gonna be suck 98% of the time.
comedy is dead
- Sun Tzu probably
A "modern" sense of humor. One that has moved beyond such antiquated ideas as "laughter" and "fun".
I heard one of the writers said: "We wanted to create characters you would want to invite into your home"
Either the writers didn't know what Saints Row was about, or they didn't care...
I would have invited the crew of the old games into my home. They were assholes, but likeable assholes.
The new characters were bland and probably written in a board room.
Given that the writers apparently didn't really care about the franchise all that much to begin with, that line of thinking honestly makes too much sense!
Eh. I'd invite carlos and shandi to my home.
@@Crese1947 - Aw, I LOVED Carlos! Also which Shandi would you choose? "Fun" Shandi, "Angry" Shaundi or "Future" Shaundi?
@@Crese1947 poor Carlos 🥺
SHOCKER. Why couldn't they just give us what we want. Why is it so goddamned hard?
Pride most likely. Stupidity. Also corruption
Well now they never will bc I doubt SR will ever return now
That’s the million dollar question. Why is it so hard to give us what we want?
Volition doesn't care, much less listen.
@@emma6648 As sad as it is, if this is their best attempt than maybe it shouldn’t return.
This is where the phrase "The customer is always right" is true. Sell a product that your targeted customers would want, and dont piss them off when selling to them.
I wouldn't have bought this game either way, but seeing how they treated the OG fans (and even the fans of the newer SR games) really pissed me off. It takes a special kind of hubris and egotism to act the way they did, and they deserve exactly what they got from us.
I'm also still confused as to who the target audience was supposed to be for this game, because clearly no one liked it
I agree to an extent (about the customer always being right), I think the industry matters. For instance many scummy people go to restaurants and complain everytime just to get free meals or discounts.
When it comes to the entertainment industry, gaming included I absolutely agree though.
I've heard the theory that it started out as a Live Service game before they chickened out and tried to awkwardly retrofit it into a single-player game at the last minute. That would explain a lot, wouldn't it?
i mean a saints row mmo to rival gta online could work
@@marlon.8051 Oh, a Saint's Row MMO would be amazing. Just so long as it wasn't a live service one.
Not really. The entire story and characters suck. It's not like the biggest problem is remnants of a live service like heaps of mtx, always online etc
@@jamesb7205 I guess that's the point OP is making. When they took out those live service features, nothing was really left except an empty game with lackluster missions and story.
A tonne.
Saints Row turned out to be the opposite of DOOM 2016 in terms of rebooting a franchise back from the dead. Damn shame.
But hey we’re getting an armored core 6
though doom is not a reboot anymore at least by eternal its now a contuination of the orginal series as doomguy was confirmed to be doomslayer.
@@housewilma4904 i would say it was a soft reboot. As far I know it seems 2016 is a direct continuation of DOOM 64 and DOOM 3 sorta didn’t happen.
@@XxHUNT3RN4T0RxX Unpopular opinion, I like Doom 3
Hopefully we got a spin-off that focus more on people that are affected by the demon invasion
@@amspook It's not a bad game per say, hell i would call it a classic, but a weak Doom nonetheless. For me 64 is the third one.
"We're changing everything about Saints Row to reflect our own values. If you don't like it, don't buy it."
"Why did nobody buy our game?!?"
I mean, i do appreciate when artists/creators/whatevers tell people to go pound sand, because if YOU don't believe in your product, why should others?
Seeing as how the writers for the reboot apparently didn't give a hoot about the franchise to begin with, can we really be surprised it bombed this badly?
I'm sure they're regretting it now; they're likely gonna lose their jobs over this.
@@SeanStrife We can hope 🤞
@@downsouthhustla Well, since Volotion is getting folded over into Gearbox and is going to provide backup on tech... what use will they have for writers or directors?
@@SeanStrife Don't worry too much, I'm sure there's another studio willing to pick them up After all, I hear Amazon has been trying to expand into the gaming sector.
@@omegaprime223 Yeah, how many years have they been talking about that? Even bought out a studio to do that. And they've done dick since then.
Your major problems were student debt and some dude stealing your friends. Like literally holding them hostage and forcing them to be his friends. DAFUQ?
And you don't even get to take out the one gang leader that actually seemed like somewhat of a threat.
@@nathanielrasey you dont get to fight ANY gang leader.
marshal leader dies in a cutscene.
Pandoros leader killed in a cutscene.
the dude who tried to take your friends KILLED IN A CUTSCNE.
and we never hear any leader of the idols except one unmaed goon.
there was ZERO BOSS FIGHT AGASINT GANG LEADERS in a saints row game of all freaking things.
@House Wilma That Jyunchi Boss fight is still one of the best, imo. I didn't even play this new one, but what you just said shows how incompetent Volition has become with their own fucking IP.
The funny thing the friends are annoying as hell. Why the heck would you want to save them
Someone said that the protags of this game would've been what the original cast made fun of.
Or casually run over while off doing more interesting things.
Considering the crap they pulled in marketing it before release, not surprised at all.
But $100mil……honestly makes me think something more was going on. That’s way too much money.
someone got to wash some dirty laundry.
Reminds me of Callisto Protocol
$160 million budget, and I'm pretty only 160 goes into gameplay design
@@amspook holy shit. Did it really cost that much for callisto?
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 Yep, 200billion Won (Korean Currency), which is around $161 million
Yeah, it doesn't look or play like a $100m game. It doesn't show. Maybe if they'd said it costed them like $60m it would've made sense.
At this point it feels like ridiculously large game budgets is just legalised money laundering.
Most of them are I'm sure
Unironically, it usually is. Also game company CEOs tend to throw their money at influencing politicians who back shitty greedy policies.
They probably spent more money on marketing rather than the game itself like most AAA games. Then millions are pocketed by the managers and board members and ceo as bonuses.
@@RuiRuichi does anyone know how much marketing costs? Like how can paying a bunch of developers and writers and things of that nature cost less than making some trailers and having a couple of ads? I just don’t think that’s true and it doesn’t really make sense.
I wonder where that money even went. SRR's game engine is just a shittier version of AOM's, their new characters are self-insert generic, the story is barely there and half-assed, most of their DLC is just like 2 or 3 pieces of random accessories. 100 million on what the reboot turned out to be is very questionable.
This is what happens when you prioritize "The message" over story, dialogue, themes, gameplay, technical competency, graphical direction....
Read that in Critical Drinker's voice 🙂
At last someone who recognizes the root of the failure.
"Nah, it'll be fine"
How will everyone at Volition pay off their student loans now? 😢
Turn to crime? 🤷♂️
con-artist-major* student loans.
Instead of hookers and crack, you have to pay your student loans
Transporting nuclear waste, I suppose.
They'll need to start working in the mines in Red Faction
100M??? They could’ve gotten it on discount for £10
I ma baffled by how could that piece of steaming pile of shit cost 100M to develop, i believe everyone was payed 6 figures in there, the more "oppressed" the person was the higher the figures would go, absolute insanity.
@@fs5866 probably all of it spent on marketing and shilling from big TH-camrs 😂
Games are expensive
"Games are expensive."
When you waste far more money than necessary, they sure are!
@@fs5866 Agree, well said. The wokesters probably put in the minimum amount of effort and just coasted through the workdays. Sad times we live in.
I remember them saying they were going to make a game somewhere between 2 and 3, taking the best parts of each, but it seems more like they took the worst parts of each.
I feel like them not saying that it was profitable speaks for itself. considering how the devs were acting before release, if this game had a massive ROI they'd definitely be throwing it in people's faces.
Yeah its just saints row 4 all over again
"We have combined Saints Row 3's story, with the reliability and engine stability of Saints Row 2"
@@feeblereptilian No, Saints Row 4 was definitely not as good as 3 or 2, and not what the series deserved to go out on, but no way in hell you can fairly compare 4 to 22. Saints Row 4 was an enjoyable and fun game that just failed to be legendary.
@@ashfox7498 I would encourage you to try playing it a second time. All of the wind is lost from its sails after beating it.
@@feeblereptilian I've done at least 3 complete playthroughs already, it's not the first game I reach for when I think I'd like to enjoy some Saints Row fun but I at least feel like I got my moneys worth out of it. That's something I doubt Saints Row 22 could achieve from what I hear out of reviewers.
I adored Saints Row 1 & 2, They had a great story and world building, 3 and 4 weren't so bad. It's sad to see how far Volition have fallen.
I thought saints row 3 and 4 were a lot of fun and are good games in thier own right, but the 2022 reboot was just plain terrible.
They weren't terrible but we can agree by 4 it was pushing Really straining the limit on what we tolerate for the IP.
I'm glad nobodys mentioned the spinoff that didn't actually happen
I did not like 3 and 4. I hated the drift away from the more realistic gang gameplay. the gameplay on 3&4 is okay but thats not really what I played saints row for.
3 was okay, but 4 went far too over the top. The addition of superpowers felt far too unnecessary and just takes away the challenge.
Getting out of twitter is the first thing to do if you want your game to succeed
Nothing have ever come out of twitter that have been good. I'm still proud of myself to never own an account in that shit-hole of a digital landfill of garbage!
The second thing should be to play all the previous games.
1) Appreciate and respect the source material.
2) Don't capitulate to just one audience, especially one who doesn't even buy your product.
These devs utterly failed, and quite honestly they should change industries if they can't keep from injecting their own narrow-minded world views into everything they touch.
Hopefully the rumors are true and Twitter is indeed not long for this world.
1. If you want your game to garner success then make a game you would enjoy, do not forget that you are also part of the playerbase
2. Unless you are sure this potential new "audience" plays games, do not change anything about he series for them
3. Always respect the source material, you can simply add any elements you want without changing or removing anything
Any company that fails to follow even one of these tend to make shir products
Lesson: don’t change what isn’t broken.
Can you be so kind to pass that message over to activision these companies think of recycling the same shit over and over again
Also known as " if it's ain't broke don't fix it".
@@driverman9528 well technically they sell a lot so it is working anyways... i just gave up with those because people either don't care or are too stupid feeding those triple A studios...
It's almost like removing literally everything that people actually liked about the series and trying to pander to a none existent Twitter people audience was a bad idea. It's almost like we have quite a few examples of this already and yet they just keep doing it for some reason.
You mean the strategy to think "Our old fans will swallow anything, and we should bring in plenty of new fans by adding all the things non-gamers talk about on twitter".
@Pythagoras Japan twitter mock pokémon relentlessly, they really don't like the modern audience stuff
ESG scores.
@@arnowisp6244 yeah I often forget about that under the weight of crushingly awful piles of fucking shit that keep getting released.
@@linusgustafsson2629 they literally thought they were game freak and they could just release any piece of shit
Big Smoke: All you had to do was Remaster Saints Row 2
How have we gotten to this point where companies will not only ignore the fans, but make content in the opposite direction of their fan based interest?
They make a game to make themselves happy, spread hate and delusions of grandeur on social media towards the fan base, and then wonder where they went wrong. It’s damn near glorious if it wasn’t so pathetic.
Gotta hand it to them, this sort of failure takes a lifetime to hone.
I imagine they've been disappointments from day one and somehow it's still been all downhill since then.
It's not a constant, but every time I've seen a major project where the leads say they're making something "for modern audiences", it's never really worked out well...
you dont actually expect me to believe that game was the result of 100 million dollars of funding...
They have nobody but themselves to blame for this one. They had an established IP and a loyal fanbase who was willing to give their hard earned cash for a satisfying product.
All they had to do was play nice and do their best to make a decent game. But they * dun f@cked it up*
As others have said you could have literally just copy and pasted EVERYTHING about the game from forum posts from gameplay to story to side activities and everyone would have been happy. They ignored all of it somehow.
Well the series was known for being over the top gang stereotypes that had dildo bats and had a spoof of Wendy’s restaurant called “Freckle Bitch’s.” This new reboot was going for a weird modern day activist type game that was afraid of offending people.
100 million? Where the hell did the budget go lol
Paying the Tumbler activists to write the story
Don't underestimate a mismanaged product, it could sink a lot of money in no time
Money laundering
Marketing
Mostly marketing push
Honestly they shot themselves in the foot by not only ignoring the players concerns but actually attacking them for being concerned.
Developer "Then dont buy it"
Players "Ok"
This is what happens when you focus on pushing an agenda rather than making a good story and likeable characters
If you think this game was pushing an agenda then you're the one with an agenda to push
No amount of customer and fanbase insulting is going to be enough to convince people to buy Saints Row at this time
I still lack the understanding of the strategy of shitting on your customer base and trying to sell them your product afterwards.
$100 million?! Jesus! What did they spend it on? Looks like a lot of it wasn't spent on the game
Probably spend a lot of the budget on diversity writing staff hires.
I used to adore these games and when the fourth game released I had already been burnt out. This game just pushed me completely from a beloved series.
And Gat out of hell added salt to your injury
This was a tipping point for some people. It came out right at a time that a majority of people have finally realized waiting to see if a game gets good reception before buying has tipped against “make the money before people realize the scam” business model for triple a studios.
If they didn't do Agents of Mayhem I'd understand a blunder like this... maybe... but considering they made the mistake of Agents of Mayhem (which I think had some good to it but that's another story) they absolutely had to play it safe. They didn't and they ignored people because they were so desperate to attach themselves to this vision...
Wait you're telling me the game that made unnecessary changes,wanted to cater to a audience that doesn't exist and insulted it's fans failed?
What a surprise
I swear the past few years has been like someone casting Crucio on me, but my torture is watching as my favorite franchises are destroyed one at a time
It's unfortunate that Saints Row ended up like this.
It's pretty telling when the spokesperson for the game is concerned about "making money" instead of "Disappointing fans" that the game was doomed to fail.
Games more concerned with being an enjoyable experience first tend to make the money it deserves. (Atleast in the long run)
Yeah like how franchises are BORN to begin with, look at the 2000's. it was called the glory days for a reason!
Its so easy. Happy fans = more money
It sounds to me like the parent company may have made the rare realization that the problem was with their own employees.
A lot of ppl that get into these companies now only go for the profit, back in the day it was impossible for non-gamer normies to get into companies like blizzard or valve regardless of how smart they are, passion for your work is essential in creative market.
More specifically - a lot of the people that get into these companies are brought in by the board/CEO to only go for the profit. More and more of them are chasing the short term gains, big bonus and golden handshake. The days of AAA studios are gradually running out and as they fail the Indies are picking up the slack. 2040/50 will be like the 90s and 00s Golden Age until those new Indies become the new triple A's and the 50 year cycle starts again. Just kidding I'm full of shit, but seriously, Indies are great. Except the scammers.
Exactly…and they are rude af to people who are fans of their older games that they had no hand in making.
I feel the biggest problem with this mindset of reinventing existing IP to cater to “modern audiences” never works. They forget the reasons why saints row 1 and 2 were liked was because the team behind it were passionate about it, they didn’t just go “okay I’m gonna create a cash cow that will generate money regardless cause it’s popular”. They never make any attempts to understand why people like it let alone fans, a golden rule people forget is that it’s more expensive to lose a loyal customer than a new customer. Notable when they dogpile people who care about the franchise and cater to bunch of newbies that play the game and move on to another game cause they don’t care. This trend is just silly and unnecessary mainstream or not. There’s no creativity in doing reboots of existing IP by a bunch of people who don’t have passion and just only see games as a business service.
I have to think you need a much bigger IP for that to even make sense. Saints Row isn't like Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty where "hey yeah everyone knows *that* game!" You need to capitalize on the dedicate fanbase by giving them what they want or it won't work. You could try this with a Star Wars game because people will just at least try anything with Star Wars.
Saints Row 2 was a one-hit-wonder, one of the best games I've ever played, and it's still installed on my second gaming PC. RIP Saints.
You’re tripping it wasn’t a one hit wonder Saints Row 1 was fire 🔥
@@isaacramirez2098 right. I feel like you can’t have 2 with out 1. Just off of the story alone. It was great character building between the 2 games. Only thing that kept my interest in 3 was Johnny Gat
played SR1 recently and it's up there with SR2.
Saints Row 2 to me was the perfect sweet spot. It had some absolutely dark, emotionally impactful moments. Then it also had you fighting an army of ninjas. The entire arc with Carlos and the Brotherhood sticks with me.
i loved 3 the most myself the companions were great and the comedic moment being treated completly seriously unlike 4 made it a real blast.
like the final descion to take down stag or the syndicate at cost of loosing one of your friends on either chouice i still remeber.
and i remeber how EPIC it felt fighting STAG like it really was a Supersoilder unit being sent after supercriminals like the saints.
who im salty just got ended in the first mission of saints 4.
@@housewilma4904 4 was not bad
@@Kagetora- no i enjoyed 4 it just wasnt my favourite though zynyak was definitly my favourite saints row villian overall.
it just lacked some of those more serious moments a little so often to be as good as 3 to me.
though it made a for a grand finale send off for the series as a "you could go bigger then this" moment.
though i did hope for a sci fi themed galactic grandtheft auto style game.
@@housewilma4904 I wasn't disappointed with 3. I just had way more hours with 2 and really enjoyed Stillwater. I liked the tone of the game. It just checked more of the boxes for me but definitely got love for 3 as well.
I’m with you, Saints Row 2 got the balance just right. And Stillwater in that game felt the most fleshed out and explorable. I played a lot of 3 and 4 when they released, but 2 is a game I still go back to on my 360 regularly.
100+ employees making 60+ grand a year and it adds up over 5+ years of development time. Regardless of how well the game turns out.
That adds up to 30 million. Where did the rest of the money go?
@@pmtoner9852 Manager's make more than 60 a year, that's why he put the plus '+' after 60.
Both 60k and 100 employees are on the low end many developers make over 80k and AAA game studios can employee over 1000 devs not to mention artists, voice actors, executives, Q and A testers, the rent for the building, the licensing for the engine, marketing budget that is sometimes the same or more then the game itself costs to produce. 100 million is on the low side for a “AAA” game these days.
More like 1000+ employees, they are also outsourcing to other companies
Licenses for the music can do that and also marketing. What a fail
$100 million? That "Love Shack" licensing cost must have been _insane._
Ain't no way. They definitely pocketed 95% of that budget.
Wouldn't it be great if budgets were public-info, to be scrutinized on a whim? I wonder how much of that money got filed under "bonus."
I love this game because it made one of the best angry joe reviews of the year.
pretty easy to do when Joe has just as much himself given up on doing anything new or creative. lol Remember when all the old fans were mad and he told them to fuck off before eventually apologizing. sounds just like Volition lol
"You done fucked it up!" When you know you're in for a good joe review.
Saints Row is a perfect example of what happens when you have a team who are more invested in Twitter and Fixing "problematic" issues with a franchise then making a working game.
Here’s a thought: don’t insult your audience when they share their opinions about it.
the amount of money they wasted is almost as bad as the behavior of the psychopathic community manager
I actually recently learned of this twitter account that was batsh*t insane and was full of it just talking crap about old Saints Row fans saying the game was gonna be great....Turns out later they were completely ousted for doxxing and got really quiet when the game's numbers came out...
True
SR1: Ur a gansta SR2: UR A GANGSTA SR3: Political gangster SR4: Idk ur a god? SR5: LGBQ2++ revolution to overthrow the patriarchy!!
I've been playing Saints Row 2 for the past week. Still holds up.
It is a bit more than 2 million at say $60 on average if you account for taxes, shipping, cut from the platform, etc. Also account that some sales say later on are likely on sales/discounted. So the exact number needed to break even is likely higher.
Had to come back here after Volition just announced their IMMEDIATE closure.
I have a list of rules for rebooting or adapting. Among them are:
-Get people who care about whatever the subject is.
-While light jokes are alright, don't actively attack your audience.
Also, if possible, insult everyone like South Park does. There are no holy cows, this isn't India.
This is with out question the final nail for Saints Rows franchise
I highly doubt where going to get any sequel or anything form the saint rows franchise anytime in the future
it ended with 4 the boss did everything the saints could ever hope to accomplish heck even gate out of hell finished off the supernatural angle.
if it ended at 3 at be sad but 4 was a big a explosive finnally as one could hope for as send off game.
This is what happens when you make a story for the small (but loud) Twitter mob.
Most real people aren't the people on Twitter and its weird that these activist writers can't figure that out.
They spend time on social media and not outside, they think reality only extends to the people they follow online
They're not activists. They're trying to pander to activists. Problem is: Actual activists are smarter than that. I know, because I am one. They didn't get it at all. It was just cringe.
Yes, they seem unaware that the people with the largest mouths, are the tiny percentage on the extreme end of either side of the spectrum.
The video “Millenial Writing” by ShreddedNerd explains very well why Saints Row failed, along with the scary pattern that is shown through many games in the industry. Highly Recommend
Millenials don't write ish like this, it's gen x and gen z and boomers.
I saw the trailer and nothing about it screamed millennial, it was all gen z bait
He should have titled it Generation z writing
@@EJ_Red Millennials wrote it to appeal to Gen Z. They became the "how do you do, fellow kids?" They complained about. Hit their mid-30s and started acting like 50 year olds. Only difference is they're more spoiled and can't afford a home.
@@emiami458 Yeah, there are tons of Boomers (60-75 yrolds) writing videogame dialogue in the 2020s.. (eyeroll)
Who would have thought not listening to fans, not following previous games, and changing the game to fit modern audiences would bomb so hard. I think all the media that's done the same the last few years showed us that's exactly what would happen.
There's a lesson here, a lesson which the devs will not learn, because those kinds of people never do.
We pretty much need a crash in order for them to finally learn their lesson.
Absolutely hilarious, I knew it was a flop from the first reveal trailer
And they were like "haters gonna hate" (real tweet) to the fans who just to point out legitimate problem of that trailer
5:05 omg why are they spending more money advertising it than actually making it, if you’re game is good people would recommend it over and over and frankly that’s the only advertising anyone needs, just look at all the successful indie games.
For the rest of the year (and probably beyond), I'll be holding up Hi Fi Rush as an example of how to do it right. A game made by enthusiastic people, around an engaging concept, and sold for $30, and it's walking all over a lot of "Triple AAA" titles.
Was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed a game that was shadow released. Great game, and the wardrobe at the end was a nice touch.
I'm pissed I don't own an Xbox because that looks legit.
*look at Denuvo* Only if you weren't in the way...
God, I hope that Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown won't fail
Unlike SR, I would definitely feel bad for them..
i like how they decided to play blind and be suprised over its failure
when EVERYBODY WAS TELLING THEM IT WAS GONNA FLOP
with its first trailer
Another game plagued by millennial writing, and people who aren’t qualified to work on a 100 million dollar product
they removed the soul of saints row of course it failed
if this truly cost 100 million dollar i can only ask "where the FU** did all the money go?"
What confused me the most about this game is the fact that they marketed the hell out of the character creator feature and not much else (Well, I may be dumb because that might not be the only thing advertised, but that’s all I saw)
Ah yes, Twitter, the video game. I wonder why it failed...
Something to note: Game came out around end of Aug and it's major patch came on November. This means the game needed at least 2-4 months to at least be stable at launch
It also needed 3 or 4 years and a reboot to be good, sadly we wont have that.
I just started playing Saints Row 4 and it’s amazing. Volition knew how to make a game in 2014.
Thought 4 was an okay title, 2 and 3 are the best of the franchise imo
@@robertcondon5933 I think 2 and 3 are better games but there’s something unique about how over the top SR4 was. Licking the candy cane door for 5 minutes and the dance party at the end just feel like quintessential Saints Row silliness
2 was fantastic.
3 rubbed a lot of people the wrong way since it was such a departure from its roots.
4 was stupid fun 🤷🏾♂️
@@robertcondon5933 1 & 2 are the best to me. Once I seen the heist with Johnny Gat heads in 3, I knew the series was taking a turn for the worst.
I understand why kids liked 3 & 4. The over the top story just isn’t for me, not to say that it can’t be a good game.