What does the future of Saints Row actually look like? Well, let's be honest, there probably isn't one at this point — not after the 2022 reboot bombed — but at least the series' original design director is up for giving it another chance.
In an especially large interview with Esports Insider, Chris Stockman — who again, played a key role in crafting the original Saints Row — shares a lot of thoughts on the sandbox franchise, the impending release of GTA 6, and the industry as a whole.
But it's Stockman's comments on the aforementioned Saints Row reboot that have caught our eye. As you can probably tell from the headline of this article, he wasn't left particularly impressed with the most recent instalment.
"When I found out that they were rebooting Saints Row, I spoke to an old friend of mine who was my old boss for Saints Row 1. He was the producer, and I was learning about what they were doing, and I thought, man, this is a terrible idea," Stockman admits right off the bat.
"What is it trying to be? You’re rebooting it, but why are you rebooting it?," he asks, echoing a lot of what was being said by existing fans around the time of the game's reveal.
"There’s a lot of characters in the series that people love. It wasn’t Saints Row at all. Just call it something else at that point. There’s a level of expectations for a Saints Row game, and they missed the mark on all of them."
Stockman goes on to say that, had he been given creative control, he would have taken the franchise back in time to the 70s: "You’re running around with a crew of teens that ended up as the main characters for the first game. You could really go all in on the 70s theme with big Afros, bell-bottoms, and the music of that whole period."
We must admit, that does sound like a laugh.
He continues: "I’d have taken it into a different direction so you’re not competing with the modern-day GTA games. You’re zagging when everyone else is zigging, so to speak."
So why doesn't Stockman actually have a go at reviving Saints Row? Well, he's been doing his own thing since 2014, heading a VR-focused studio named Bit Planet Games.
Still, Stockman says that he'd happily take the reigns: "[Embracer Group], if you’re listening to this, contact me. Let’s go. I can bring much of the old band back together who worked on Saints Row 1. I could turn that IP around with a decent budget. They don’t even have to fund it. I could get other outside people to fund it. I could turn the franchise around. I know I could."
It's perhaps a nugget of hope for diehard Saints Row fans, but Stockman does also say that he'd be interested in combining Saints Row with VR.
"I’ve even thought about going to my pals at Meta to say, hey what about doing a Saints Row VR project? I think with the technology coming in the future, I think an open world game could work, but it’d have to be heavily stylised. We wouldn’t be trying to compete with GTA, but I don’t think anyone can compete with GTA anymore," he explains.
What do you make of Stockman's comments? Would you like to see Saints Row return at some point? And what would you want from such a revival? Don't mess with the Saints in the comments section below.