No Questions Asked: Saints Row 5 Release Date and Jim Boone
Typically the return of a long-time producer and coworker is a cause for celebration at a company, but not so at Volition, which welcomed back Jim Boone with layoffs and a workload many of us would not dare to tackle especially if Saints Row 5 is in the horizon.
The longtime producer who started out in QA for titles such as Descent and Descent II, Jim Boone eventually made his way up the ladder and became a producer on the FreeSpace series. He also was there for the debut of the Red Faction and the Saints Row series, the latter for which he has returned as a senior producer on the fifth installment in the hyper-popular Grand Theft Auto-inspired titles.
He left Volition temporarily for a position with Riot Games on their League of Legends titles.
Prior to that, many in the community looked to Jim Boone as a sort of spokesperson for the company, a position he will largely return to in addition to his production duties.
“I go pretty far back with these guys, even on the publishing side. As you can imagine, the kind of relationships that you form with everyone are pretty strong. I missed them. I loved what I was doing when I left. I kept thinking about what the guys were doing, slaving away on Agents of Mayhem… and it felt kind of weird that I wasn’t part of that. So being able to come back, and work with everyone on the next step was pretty exciting for me. It felt like something I couldn’t turn down,” he is quoted as saying by GameIndustry.biz.
Director of games development at parent company Deep Silver, Eugenio Vitale, said that “Jim brings to the table huge competence and production experience, as well as maintaining a connection to the roots of Volition and to what made Volition unique. We hope this change will be received as a signal of commitment from our Volition and Saints Row fans.”
The failure of the company’s latest title, Agents of Mayhem, has left a lot of disappointed faces at Deep Silver and resulted in the company’s round of layoffs.
Although it would probably be better if Jim Boone were returning at a more prosperous time, it seems the company needs his talents now more than ever.
The first thing on the agenda as part of Boone’s return will be an examination of the Agents of Mayhem title and fans hoping for some Saints Row 5 tidbits.
Though some people attribute its commercial failure to the struggles with launching a new IP, other people point to potential Saints Row fatigue setting in among the core audience.
As part of his return, the company will be reviewing what went right and what went wrong with their latest game and they will use that data in the future when designing new games, maybe Saints Row 5?
Even with the disappointment of Agents of Mayhem, the company remains enthusiastic for the future and feel their prospects are bright indeed.
With Jim Boone back on the scene analysts think this rosy projection probably has more chance of succeeding than it would in his absence.