Saints Row 2 Saints Row 2 Mega Patch isn't coming :(

[MegaFreeman]

Its just how Volition works. As a generally one of the smallest studios in the AAA industry, their side projects tend to drag on for a LOOOOOOONG time. SRIV Workshop was being worked on for 3 years before they released it and it was only released as a beta, not to mention the team working on it was a lot bigger. In fact, I do believe if this was outsourced and not done in-house, it would've came out a lot sooner.

I'm pretty sure the project has been on ice since Mike passed away and they'll continue work on it after the reboot is out the door and they actually got more time.

 

[Veselar]

They dont even give information about a patch which announced 4 years ago, i dont think this new Volition devs even want to hear anything about Sr1 pc port. I feel that the new dev team act they are competing against the old dev team and do not want nothing with those games.

I see some similarities to War Drum Studios, current Piranha Bytes, BioWare etc.
Many members of old team are gone, and new have to do something, to keep their respect.
But usually it results in mistakes, or angery fans and lack of new fans.

@Vinski
Technically it will be patch, not rerelease.

 

[J-Boogie]

honestly that's still quite a long time for something that keeps being referred to as a "patch" made in-house, though... sure the company's been very busy but it does not seem like anyone working there other than Watson ever truly cared about this, judging from what i've seen and read. i think it's weird because even beside the fact that it's being finished in Watson's memory, for all the company's talk about the "love" they have for the "sr community" they still drag their feet about something that they have to know is extremely important to the really embittered part of the fandom. it's like an almost instant "regain og sr fan goodwill" button, great for PR if nothing else, but instead the employees in charge have to work on it on their free time like it's some kind of a fan project and not one of their most beloved games they're fixing

like i am very grateful we're getting the rerelease at all and i'd wait a decade if it genuinely took that long, but i also think it's a little sad Volition as a company seems to have no actual enthusiasm for their previous work whatsoever

It's called a 'patch' but it's pretty much a re-release. It's even going to have its own seperate Steam ID. I don't think people understand the concept of a developer going back and rebuilding a 14 year old game, whose port they didn't even handle mind you, to re-release at zero cost. They're even adding the console DLC. Mike Watson himself said they didn't want to give a date because it was going to take time. It was him and Thomas working on it in their free time in the beginning.

The entire fact they're doing this in the first place shows how much they give a damn. There were no hemming or hawing about whether they'd do it. As soon as they got the source code they just went 'Okay, let's do this.' But this was never going to be a fast project. They were up front about that.

 

[Vinski]

It's called a 'patch' but it's pretty much a re-release. It's even going to have its own seperate Steam ID. I don't think people understand the concept of a developer going back and rebuilding a 14 year old game, whose port they didn't even handle mind you, to re-release at zero cost. They're even adding the console DLC. Mike Watson himself said they didn't want to give a date because it was going to take time. It was him and Thomas working on it in their free time in the beginning.

The entire fact they're doing this in the first place shows how much they give a damn. There were no hemming or hawing about whether they'd do it. As soon as they got the source code they just went 'Okay, let's do this.' But this was never going to be a fast project. They were up front about that.

yes, i think it reflects very well on Mike and the invidual devs who promised to pick the project back up. sounds like they are all very dedicated people who do genuinely care about what they do. but the company as a whole, which is what i was talking about? not really, not in my eyes. the problem is that the people who do the work generally don't make the actual decisions here, and "allocating zero resources to the project" is not a decision that screams "caring" to me (no, the employees' own free time is not a company resource). like i said it doesn't even sound like the people in charge are treating this a "real" project, beyond graciously allowing Mike to start working on it once he found the source code (that he found himself after years of searching). i know they could have just said no, but i also think they could've dedicated a bit more to this beyond just that "yes".

it's like you said, it's not really a patch but a whole new release of the game. i went through that whole song and dance in this very thread a while ago - unlike the sriv thing, in my eyes this is a legit new Volition product but it's not being treated that way by the higher ups at the company. i think that reflects poorly on Volition as a whole when the desire to work on these kinds of things might be there, to cultivate the community and cherish their previous work, but it's not something that's shared or seen as any kinda priority by the leadership. of course i'm not expecting like a full team or anything but you know. something. maybe a bit more of a presence on their social media accounts too, a screenshot here or there.

and again, i'm aware Mike and this new team worked/work on the rerelease out of their own free will. i really do appreciate that, i care about this game way more than i'd ever like to admit, but there seems to be a lot of circumstantial stuff surrounding this project that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. i think the company's relationship with not only the "community" but also their own previous work has been eroding for a while now in general and the way this rerelease was and is being handled is just an aspect of it. but obviously this is all from an embittered long time fan's biased perspective, i don't know the internal workings of the company any better than any other fan.

 

[MegaFreeman]

That kinda implies the decision of allocating resources is Volition's call. It isn't, they barely hold any rights over the series and decision making process. Most of these stuff are decided by Deep Silver, and they aren't too keen on giving the studio much side projects after lacking performance and content of AOM on launch. And considering publishers are profit driven, we're lucky we're getting this for free at all. And with DLCs patched in for free which console players gotta pay extra $17 for. Any other publisher/studio would've remastered it instead and sold for $40

 

[Vinski]

That kinda implies the decision of allocating resources is Volition's call. It isn't, they barely hold any rights over the series and decision making process. Most of these stuff are decided by Deep Silver, and they aren't too keen on giving the studio much side projects after lacking performance and content of AOM on launch. And considering publishers are profit driven, we're lucky we're getting this for free at all. And with DLCs patched in for free which console players gotta pay extra $17 for. Any other publisher/studio would've remastered it instead and sold for $40

that's fair, and something i thought about too - Volition truly is a part of a nightmarish matryoshka doll of companies. but that really just elevates the problems i talked about to an even higher level rather than disprove them. the system just sounds kinda rotten, but then again this is triple A video games so i guess that's a feature and not a flaw.

talking about IPs and their owners vs original creators/developers though, just recently Max Payne's original developer Remedy announced they'll be working on remakes of the first two games. this was a project they actually pursued themselves rather than Rockstar actively seeking to contract them if i understood correcty, due to the love they still have for their decades old work. this is also a series i adore and it's just such a stark contrast to SR and Volition, just shows that all kinda stuff can happen in this industry.

 

[J-Boogie]

yes, i think it reflects very well on Mike and the invidual devs who promised to pick the project back up. sounds like they are all very dedicated people who do genuinely care about what they do. but the company as a whole, which is what i was talking about? not really, not in my eyes. the problem is that the people who do the work generally don't make the actual decisions here, and "allocating zero resources to the project" is not a decision that screams "caring" to me (no, the employees' own free time is not a company resource). like i said it doesn't even sound like the people in charge are treating this a "real" project, beyond graciously allowing Mike to start working on it once he found the source code (that he found himself after years of searching). i know they could have just said no, but i also think they could've dedicated a bit more to this beyond just that "yes".

it's like you said, it's not really a patch but a whole new release of the game. i went through that whole song and dance in this very thread a while ago - unlike the sriv thing, in my eyes this is a legit new Volition product but it's not being treated that way by the higher ups at the company. i think that reflects poorly on Volition as a whole when the desire to work on these kinds of things might be there, to cultivate the community and cherish their previous work, but it's not something that's shared or seen as any kinda priority by the leadership. of course i'm not expecting like a full team or anything but you know. something. maybe a bit more of a presence on their social media accounts too, a screenshot here or there.

and again, i'm aware Mike and this new team worked/work on the rerelease out of their own free will. i really do appreciate that, i care about this game way more than i'd ever like to admit, but there seems to be a lot of circumstantial stuff surrounding this project that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. i think the company's relationship with not only the "community" but also their own previous work has been eroding for a while now in general and the way this rerelease was and is being handled is just an aspect of it. but obviously this is all from an embittered long time fan's biased perspective, i don't know the internal workings of the company any better than any other fan.

Here's the problem with that line of thinking: this was never going to be a real project. It's not a remake. It's not a remaster. And assuming it should've been really isn't factoring the realities of the world. Devs get paid to work on projects that are going to make money. As awesome as this patch is? It is not really going to make money.

In these situations one of three things happen: the project does not get started, the project is done out of necessity (like No Man's Sky basically having their game come to Jesus moment and get reborn because they *had* to) or the project is greenlit in a limited capacity, which is where we are now. Any people pulled from what they're currently working on can actually be a detriment to them and is that what we really want?

And, I'm gonna be honest, Volition has been one of the forefront devs when it comes to interacting with their fans and talking about their games. Are we just going to ignore the years of streams they've done or the builds they've just released out to the public of unreleased games? I mean, who really does that?

 

[Vinski]

Here's the problem with that line of thinking: this was never going to be a real project. It's not a remake. It's not a remaster. And assuming it should've been really isn't factoring the realities of the world. Devs get paid to work on projects that are going to make money. As awesome as this patch is? It is not really going to make money.

In these situations one of three things happen: the project does not get started, the project is done out of necessity (like No Man's Sky basically having their game come to Jesus moment and get reborn because they *had* to) or the project is greenlit in a limited capacity, which is where we are now. Any people pulled from what they're currently working on can actually be a detriment to them and is that what we really want?

And, I'm gonna be honest, Volition has been one of the forefront devs when it comes to interacting with their fans and talking about their games. Are we just going to ignore the years of streams they've done or the builds they've just released out to the public of unreleased games? I mean, who really does that?

you're 100% correct, maybe i just don't wanna think it has to be this way. i think both V's employees and their old work deserve so much better than this.

about their interactions with the community though, when did they actually last stream about anything but the new game, if even that? where's the Cooler stream Watson said was in the works years ago? maybe that cancelled 3ds game, i don't think that one was ever shown off either? just because the company used to be good with the community doesn't mean it's still that way today. personally i feel like AoM honestly just kinda broke something and Volition hasn't been the same since, or maybe it truly was Mike who was the carrying force there, or maybe a combination of things. but overall the fact that they used to be so good and seem so enthusiastic in the past just highlights how now they feel anything but, like i don't think this is a recent thing that's only happening because of the reboot marketing or something.

 

[MegaFreeman]

when did they actually last stream about anything but the new game, if even that?

They actually used to do frequent streams for years now covering different topics until COVID pandemic started. Tho you're right about AOM ruining something about it, as they had like a 2 year long break after AOM's release because Josh Stinson, the guy in charge of the streams, was one of the laid off employees. But he got rehired and they relaunched the streams in 2019. They're all uploaded on their Youtube channel, most are dev chats, where Josh would interview the devs currently working at Volition, some with hints of cut content (like the cut agents from AOM) or talking about their history in the studio (Brian Trafficate shared his work on SR1 and SR2), but there was also two SRTT themed streams as part of Switch release of SRTT. For one they even brought Jaros.

Now the streams are mostly on ice cause half the dev team still works from home

 

[Vinski]

They actually used to do frequent streams for years now covering different topics until COVID pandemic started. Tho you're right about AOM ruining something about it, as they had like a 2 year long break after AOM's release because Josh Stinson, the guy in charge of the streams, was one of the laid off employees. But he got rehired and they relaunched the streams in 2019. They're all uploaded on their Youtube channel, most are dev chats, where Josh would interview the devs currently working at Volition, some with hints of cut content (like the cut agents from AOM) or talking about their history in the studio (Brian Trafficate shared his work on SR1 and SR2), but there was also two SRTT themed streams as part of Switch release of SRTT. For one they even brought Jaros.

Now the streams are mostly on ice cause half the dev team still works from home

oh my god the transition to wfh for me at the start of the pandemic was so seamless i keep forgetting how much it's affected many other companies. i now even remember when they posted about having to put the streaming on ice for the time being. how embarrassing lol of course they haven't been able to stream as much, thank you for getting it through my thick head

still wish they utilized their social media accounts more like they used to though, like they used to post so much stuff on tumblr. now tumbo's not relevant to anything anymore but from what i've seen they didn't really keep up with it on twitter at least, not that i'd expect anyone to have an endless well of production art and such to show off though