Saints Row 4 dev “didn’t appreciate” THQ’s porn star focus

Saints Row is known for its insane humour and over-the-top approach to the open-world action genre, but even the producer on the upcoming fourth instalment feels that the game’s previous publisher THQ put the focus in the wrong areas.

“I did not always love how much THQ put an emphasis on porn stars,” said Saints Row 4 associate producer Kate Nelson. “I think it’s important in marketing games to make sure that the essence of the game is what’s being marketed, and I think the porn star angle didn’t really fit in with what Saints Row is at heart, which is a parody. We like to poke fun.”

Nelson went on to say that the team at Volition “didn’t appreciate” the fact that THQ were calling porn star Tera Patrick a “special producer” on Saints Row 2, purely because she was involved in the marketing and provided her voice to the game’s DLC.

Nelson also spoke about the misconception of women in Saints Row games, saying that the franchise allows gamers to choose an empowered female heroine if they desire.

“I think our game actually does represent women in a positive way, but the press will focus on, ‘oh hey, there are strippers’, or ‘there’s a dildo bat’; it’s unfortunate from my perspective that that doesn’t come through,” said Nelson.

“Because I hear women talk on panels and they’re like ‘there are no people that look like me in games.’ Well, actually in my game [the main character] can look like you as our customization system is so extensive. We don’t get that across in our marketing or in the press because it’s difficult – we only have 30 seconds to explain.”

The ultimate guilty pleasure that is Saints Row 4 will launch on 23 August 2013 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.