GTA has legions of fans who are eagerly anticipating the announcement of GTA V (perhaps even at this year's E3). If you ask THQ boss Brian Farrell, however, many of these fans are also Saints Row players despite the different directions Saints Row and GTA have taken. With no new GTA in sight just yet, THQ aims to capitalize on the open world genre this holiday with Saints Row: The Third.
Farrell also thinks that aside from the big shooters launching this holiday (Call of Duty, Battlefield) that THQ is uniquely positioned to capture a lot of consumer dollars with Saints Row.
"Over the last several years the [GTA and Saints Row] franchises have gone in totally different directions. I think to real gamers who love the Open World games, they buy both. I respect what Rockstar does with GTA, I love the last game, but compare that to Saints Row and the over the top, in your face, wacky humor, lots of stuff going on, irreverence, tongue in cheek. It’s really just positioned very differently, and so we think the opportunity is when you look at the competitive set this fall... Yeah there’s a couple of big shooters but after that, given the pent up demand we think there is for Saints Row, and that type of game, we think it’s an awesome opportunity," Farrell told IndustryGamers.
He continued, "Anybody that loves a great Open World action game is going to love Saints Row: The Third. No question about that. But, again, I think there’s room in our industry now. We’ve grown up so much. I’m just not sure it’s an either or equation. I think you’re going to find both games in a lot of gamer’s portfolios."
The first two Saints Row games have sold over 5.4 million copies worldwide, and the second iteration did more than a million units better than the original, so the franchise is definitely gaining more fans. What do you think? Can it reach GTA-like status one day?
