Prerelease:Saints Row (2006)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Saints Row (2006).

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: A ton of things. Post all images from the asset discs, in chronological order before going on to take screenshots from gaming websites. More of this [in the GDC 2015 one! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL5x0dOujQY] April 2006 interview This interview from September 2005 [1] Post these. Behind the scenes video, full 8-minute cut [2] Early map design images? https://www.cdh.cz/xbox/Saints-Row-13634/galerie/ Saints Row interview with Christopher Stockman [3] cover the BradyGames Strategy Guide

Saints Row was an unexpectedly huge, yet ambitious title for Volition Games' spin on the usual Grand Theft Auto clones that were released throughout the 2000s. For their take, they wanted to redefine the open-world genre by giving the player a new sense of freewill in terms of environmental interaction and customization. Development also began when hip hop culture was just starting to take its place, even before Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released, but as that game was unveiled, they had to distance similarities between that game.

It was also an extremely tough challenge for the team themselves due to not creating such a feat like this before, coming across many problems at various points in development, and having to hire dozens of new developers, thus growing their company. For the first time, development was done in different "phases", representing big changes that were implemented at various points of development. One major drawback was having to drastically downscale elements and features from their original vision of the game, which would have cost further delays and the extra time needing to squash the bugs.

There were also overall mixed feelings of the game's creation, from the pitch to the exhausting development which created tons of crunch time for the developers and rising fears of the game failing to meet their sales numbers. Those fears added up when the multiple last-minute changes were made even after the overall foundation was settled down, which resulted in the game being seen as "slapped together" by the developers in some ways.

Fortunately, the game was a success for an Xbox 360-exclusive title, where it went on to sell 2 million copies just under the next two years, making its mark for being the first seventh-generation Grand Theft Auto experience (while also being well-regarded from those fans too) before the fourth numbered-entry would be released over a year later and even besting what the True Crime and Driver series attempted to do. Despite that, there was some criticism citing some of the glitches and repetition in missions, but overall is seen as an overlooked gem due to not being released on other platforms. The success of the game also allowed development of the sequel, where the team would be able to fully realize their original visions for the game.

Development Timeline

2003

• circa. April/May - Development on the game starts as Bling Bling for the PlayStation 2, beginning Phase 1.

2004

• Mar-May 12 - When Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was announced in that time period, the developmental team was concerned about the overall theme of their project copying the former, so they decided to change their viewpoint to be "a little more goofy".
• Apr. - The timeframe of the Bling Bling: Jackass video.
• circa. Spring/Summer - Development of the game was moved to the Xbox 360, because they wanted a much more powerful system for an open world. The transition wasn't easy, but they had plenty of assistance and help from Microsoft.
• Aug. 14 - Earliest date of the "phasefive" files.

2005

• circa. Spring - Stilwater, the city's setting begins take conceptualization. Districts were decided in in the form of a map, taking inspiration from "rough, rust belt Midwestern cities". Around the time, the finalized name of Saints Row came to be.
• March - Saints Row is briefly mentioned on The Royalty Network, claiming that a song was going to be used for the game's revelation at E3 2005.
• May 18-20 - Saints Row is unveiled to the public for the first time shortly after the Xbox 360's revelation at E3 2005, slated as a launch window release for the then-upcoming console.
• May-June - After the game's showcase at E3 2005, the developers needed a better approach on how to ship the game where they decided to scale back on the detail and elevation.
• Sep. 9 - Select journalists were invited to see more gameplay of Saints Row at Gamer's Day 2005 event, and the game was said to be "50% complete"
• circa. Fall - The game is announced for a March 2006 release.
• Oct. 7 - A slightly later build of the game was shown off at X05 event in Amsterdam, including some new features.
• Oct. 28 - According to a THQ financial report, Saints Row is now delayed to "2nd quarter of 2006."
• Nov. 25 - The Xbox 360 is released.
• circa. Nov. 30 - Saints Row gets a new logo.
• Dec. 12 - A new trailer was released, showing off a release date of "Spring 2006".

2006

• Mar. 22 - More footage of Saints Row was shown off at GDC 2006.
• Apr. - Saints Row gets rated by the ESRB.
• Apr. 12 - Volition Inc. announces an upcoming demo of Saints Row.
• Apr-May - Saints Row is delayed to August.
• May 10 - The game is shown off again at E3 2006.
• Jun. 23 - The demo of Saints Row is announced for a release on August 1.
• Jun. 26 - The build date of the Saints Row Demo.
• Aug. 1-2 - The demo of Saints Row was released, containing a few differences from the final game.
• Aug. 29 - Saints Row is released in North America.

Sub-Pages

NOTE: The order and timing of the Phases have not been fully confirmed and some are placed in the form of speculation.

2003-2004

Phases 1-3 Spring 2003-Early 2004. Style, Music, Gangs, Guns, and nothin' else.

2004-2005

Phase 4 Spring-Summer 2004. Floaty psychics galore!

Phase 5 Summer 2004-Summer 2005. New engine, new challenges.

Phase 6 Summer 2005-Winter 2006. The great elevation re-evaluation.

2006

Phase 7 Early-Spring 2006. It's all playtesting and bug squashing from there.

Phases 8-9 Spring-Summer 2006. The finishing touches.

Differences

Removed Songs

Saints Row had around a dozen songs that didn't make it to the game. Most of them are gathered from Roynet.com, while others can be heard in gameplay footage.

Song	Source	Date of Source	Notes
Cam'Ron - “Get ‘Em Girls”		March 2005	This is the first mention of Saints Row on Roynet.com and on the internet, dating to March 2005, two months before the game's revelation at E3 2005. It was likely supposed to be used for the trailer, but was replaced with Eric B and Rakim's - Juice instead.
The Alchemist - Bang Out		June 2005
Big Noyd - Rush		August 2005
Heltah Skeltah & OGC - Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka		August 2005
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Straighten It Out		September 2005
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Ain't No Justice		September 2005
Foxy Brown and Sizzla - Come Fly With Me		September 2005
50 Cent and M.O.P - Big Boy Game		September 2005
The Alchemist - Hold You Down		September 2005
R'Thentic - C-Rayz Waltz		October 2005	From the X05 event build.
Jae Millz - Who		December 2005

Stilwater

Initial Draft	Artist's Rendition

Stilwater was way bigger during development.

Pre-Gamer's Day Build (Behind The Scenes)	Gamer's Day Build	Post-X05 Build

Cancelled Ports

To do: subpage this? Get the PS3 magazine scan and Wii images.

After the massive success of Saints Row, it was planned to be ported to other consoles. Unfortunately, the following ports got canned due to various reasons stated below, leaving the game to be shrouded as being an Xbox 360 exclusive.

Nintendo Wii

After the game was released, a port was developed for the Nintendo Wii by Mass Media, outsourced from THQ. Little was known about the port when goneisgone blog posted few images of it, until more information would not see the light of day until April 27, 2021 where a YouTuber emailed a former employee about it and was sent footage of it along with some additional information. The port in this video appears to be one of the last ones from "late 2006" and was canned around five months after development due to THQ facing internal legal trouble from Nintendo and requested development to a halt.

Leftover footage of the port showed the game to be in an incomplete state, where many of the things had not been completely ported over yet despite looking overall the same except with a few differences; there was an option to watch cutscenes on the main menu, the loading screen graphics are different from the final game AND the unused demo ones, and the waypoint navigator uses the lines from earlier builds.

In a later 2008 CVG interview with Volition about Saints Row on the Wii, they said that a game for the system would be "too controversial", where they described using the Wii Remote's ability to use melee weapons in a similar vein to takedowns and executions in Manhunt 2. They further elaborated that they are always "pushing for graphics", describing the Wii's graphical system as "playing on an older console". Despite that, a Saints Row game for a Nintendo system would eventually be released in 2019 as Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package.

PlayStation 3

In February 2007, a PlayStation 3 port of Saints Row was confirmed to be in development. More information about the port was released in the March 2007 issue of PSM magazine, where it stated that it would have new multiplayer maps and clothing which were likely implemented from the Xbox 360 DLC. It would also have other quality-of-life improvements like new pedestrians and reworked online play.

At the point of the port's near completion, it was eventually cancelled at THQ's press conference in May 2007, due to the initial poor sales of the PlayStation 3, and so that Volition could fully focus on Saints Row 2.

Resources

Concept Art

• • [Volition Tumblr - Concept Art https://volition.tumblr.com/search/%23concept+art]
  • Volition Doug Nelson Developer Interview
  • The Creation of Saints Row's Open World Cityscape: Stilwater - GDC 2007
  • The Secret History of Volition Inc. - GameInformer
  • The Making of Saints Row
  • X05 Event Footage - IGN

Saints Row Developer Diaries

• • Saints Row Developer Diary #1 News
  • Saints Row Developer Diary #2 News
  • Saints Row Developer Diary #3 News
  • Saints Row Developer Diary #4 News
  • Saints Row Developer Diary #5 News
  • Saints Row Developer Diary #6 News
  • [4]
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsNYJZVyfVo
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL5x0dOujQY

ArtStation

• [5]
• [6]

Videos

• Playone.be
  • [7]
  • [8]
• 4Players
  • [9]
  • [10]
  • [11]
• GameSpot
  • [12]
  • [13]
• Other
  • Gameswelt

Interviews

• • https://www.vg247.com/2011/11/08/with-sr-the-third-everything-had-to-beover-the-top-this-time-around-says-volition/

Screenshots

• • https://www.gameblog.fr/jeu-video/jeux/x360/16042
  • https://www.gameswelt.de/saints-row/screenshots/uebersicht-185294

Press Disc Assets

• • THQ Asset Disc May 18-20
  • THQ Loaded 05 Media Kit
  • THQ Press Day - Dec 2005
  • THQ Loaded '06 Media Kit (Germany)
  • Saints Row (Australia) Assets disc
• Other
  • Saints Row Flickr account
  • Roynet.com (Archived)