Saints Row: The Cooler

Saints Row: The Cooler
Unreleased Game
Platform:	PlayStation 3 - XBOX 360
Developer:	Heavy Iron Studios - THQ

Saints Row: The Cooler is a cancelled fighting game, which was in development for the Xbox 360 and PS3. It was being created by Heavy Iron Studios in Los Angeles and was funded by THQ.

“It was a brawler game. Go to a bar, pick a fight, smash a bottle over someone’s head” – Former Heavy Iron Studios artist

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Work began on the title in March 2010 at developer, Heavy Iron. In partnership with THQ, the company sought to create the first Saints Row game controlled entirely by motion; a ploy to capitalise on the rising industry trend at the time.

Two versions of the game were planned initially: an XBOX 360 game using Microsoft’s Kinect peripheral and a PS3 port with Playstation Move support. The XBOX 360 was the lead development platform for The Cooler, as the team’s creative focus was very much on Kinect.

A team of around 40 people were put on the project, while the rest of the studio was occupied with another Kinect-centric project for Disney called ‘E-Ticket’.

We were able to get in touch with several people, a mix of both former and current employees at the developer, who shared some details with us on the game’s lifecycle. According to these sources, the title was a brawler set in the Saint’s Row universe and was, in contrast with the rest of the series, not an open world game.

Information Source​ (top)

https://www.unseen64.net/2014/10/13/saints-row-cooler-cancelled-xbox-360-ps3/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu3_7LTNCwa89vg8qftl5nQ