According to THQ Nordic’s recently published Interim Report to investors, Volition is “deep in development” on the next Saints Row game in the series. The report specifies that Volition is developing full-length game, the first one for the franchise since Saints Row IV in 2013. Volition’s last released game was 2017’s Agents of Mayhem, which is set in a spin-off universe from Saints Row.
The Investor Report from THQ Nordic states that “looking ahead we expect to have at least two major AAA-releases during the next financial year ending March 31, 2021.” If Volition is truly “deep” into the development cycle of the next Saints Row game, it’s possible that THQ Nordic is looking to release the upcoming Saints Row game relatively soon. It may also mark a big step up for the series as far as graphics and performance goes, with next-generation consoles scheduled to release around the Holiday 2020 season.
Other news from THQ Nordic’s report includes the handing off the development of Dead Island 2 to Dambuster Studios. Dead Island 2 was originally announced at E3 2014 and news has been sparse ever since.
Lastly, in Timesplitters updates, THQ Nordic also mentioned that they’re “delighted to announce that one of the series’ creators, Steve Ellis, has joined us to help plot the future course for this franchise.” THQ Nordic acquired the rights to both the Timesplitters and Second Sight franchises from Crytek last year. Both franchises were originally developed by Free Radical Design, which today is Deep Silver Dambuster and a proprietary THQ Nordic developer.
At E3 2019, THQ Nordic announced three new titles: a remake of SpongeBob: Battle for Bikini Bottom, and Destroy all Humans!, and reboot for the Darksiders franchise, Darksiders: Genesis. THQ Nordic had teased before E3 that they were focusing on revisiting “beloved franchises,” and according to their Investor Report received positive responses on the decisions to revisit their IP portfolios.
THQ Nordic claims to have a whopping “81 games under development whereof 47 were still unannounced by end of the quarter.” THQ Nordic will be at 2019’s Gamescom in Germany with six playable game demos, with one of them an as yet unannounced new game.