Volition associate producer Kate Nelson thinks the porn star angle didn’t really fit in with what Saints Row is at heart.
You may remember way back during the marketing cycle for Saints Row 2, in-between those totally insane Gary Busey ads, THQ brought in adult film star Tera Patrick as a “special producer” for the game. A gimmicky publicity stunt at best, it was followed up with more “porn star marketing” that focused on penthouse girls. Volition’s associate producer Kate Nelson tells Edge that she and the rest of the Saints Row team weren’t too happy with THQ’s focus on porn stars for Saints Row 2 and Saints Row the Third.
“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.”
In particular, Nelson says the whole Tera Patrick thing rubbed a lot of people at Voliton the wrong way. “Saying that someone who had no industry experience was in a role that is sexualised as a producer of our project, or saying the penthouse girls are our QA staff – I just…I can see the humour in that angle of promotion but for me that’s the line where it gets into reality.”
Nelson goes on to talk about Saints Row IV, and how the series has come a long way from its objectification days. “You can be an important female character – you don’t have to have a D cup either,” she says. “You can be large woman, a small woman – you can be blue. You can be who you want to be in the game and you have powerful female characters written into the narrative.”
But she despairs that the press isn’t going to see things that way. “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.” Its ok Kate, us Escapists appreciate your effort to make strong, female characters, that also happen to wield dildo bats and anal probe weapons.
Source: Edge Online
