Jason Rubin doesn't speak so well or the media sucks. Maybe both.

[Stoney Mason]

says Jason Rubin president of THQ

Saints Row the Third sold more than four million copies when it was released last fall to mostly positive reviews. But Jason Rubin, the recently appointed president of THQ, says he expects more from the developers who made it and the company that released it.

More from Volition and THQ not because Saints Row the Third didn't sell, or didn't garner positive reviews, but more because he knows both can do better.

"Why couldn't that be a Red Dead Redemption or a Skyrim?" he said. "I look at that title and I say, ‘Who cares what it is and why it got to be what it is? From that team we can make something that isn't embarrassing."

Ed's note: To be clear, Rubin isn't saying that he's embarrassed of the game or that he's not a fan of Saints Row or proud of Volition. What he's saying is that he hopes that despite my feelings, that the team can impress me in the future. I followed up with Rubin after this interview ran and he reiterated that, adding that he both loved Saints Row the Third and that he thinks the team is capable of more.

"Those two things are not mutually exclusive," he said.

Rubin, just seven days into his tenure at the beleaguered publisher and developer, says this in response to a very direct question during a surprisingly candid interview. The interview is his last of the week before rushing from E3 and Los Angeles to New York where he will kick off a series of in-person meetings with the people that make up the studios of THQ. They are meetings Rubin is holding to convince people not to jump ship, to give him and to give THQ more time to make things, in his words, "good for them."

"Darksiders 2 is very interesting," he said, "but I think I can get that team to make other very interesting games."

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/6/8/3071167/thq-e3-2012-jason-rubin


I don't want to knee jerk on either of those comments because I think people have been taking the quotes slightly out of context. But still interesting.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Jason Rubin is an asshole who's going down with the ship, but not before he draws a phat paycheck

[Himu]

INSULT YOUR MOST VALUED DEVELOPER AND YOUR MOST POPULAR FRANCHISE.

SOUNDS GOOD, INNIT?

[Himu]

Guy is too self conscious and embarrassed to play SR3 in front of wife because he's a douche. NEWS AT ELEVEN.

[cool breeze]

I'm still unclear on what he means with SR3, but if he's saying he'd rather these teams to make new games instead of SR4 or Darksiders 3, then I'm alright with that.

[Stoney Mason]

For what its worth Saints Row 3 was the first of those games I really liked. I thought Saints Row 2 was interesting but never was bothered to finish it. A large part of the reason I liked 3 was because I felt they finally got the tone right. It became its own smart parody for once. So when he says he wants it to be more like Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption, I have no clue what that means. The tone of 3 was a perfect fit. I personally know some people who were turned off by the silliness but I have a feeling even if it had a more serious tone/approach those people wouldn't have probably bought it either. GTA will always be the king of that genre so copying that tone is not a good idea to distinguish yourself.

I don't have a problem with Vigil moving on to something else after Darksiders 2. Clearly they are very talented. And talented people often want to try different things. They probably actually want to move on to something else.

[Great Rumbler]

[Huff]

did darksiders 1 sell enough for a sequel in the first place?

[Great Rumbler]

did darksiders 1 sell enough for a sequel in the first place?

Well, it sold 1.2 million copies domestically in the first month, not really sure after that.

[Joe Molotov]

In other news, THQ released new DLC for SR3 today that lets you dress up in a weiner suit.

[Stoney Mason]

did darksiders 1 sell enough for a sequel in the first place?

To be fair it was released in January I believe and it also had almost no marketing which is generally a death omen for a new ip.

[Huff]

http://www.edge-online.com/news/darksiders-sales-disappoint

Darksiders didn't perform up to THQ's expectations, likely selling less than 1 million units despite heavy marketing dollars, 2-3 years of development costs, and was also subject to discounting just 2 weeks after its release," Greenwald said

hmm not surprised they are considering stopping after this game if this is true

[Momo]

(Image removed from quote.)

.

[Great Rumbler]

http://www.edge-online.com/news/darksiders-sales-disappoint

Darksiders didn't perform up to THQ's expectations, likely selling less than 1 million units despite heavy marketing dollars, 2-3 years of development costs, and was also subject to discounting just 2 weeks after its release," Greenwald said

hmm not surprised they are considering stopping after this game if this is true

Darksiders sold 1.2 million copies in the US in its first four weeks, as I just said several posts ago.

[Trent Dole]

My wife played just as much SR3 as I did if not more. Rubin needs to find him a better lady or just stop being a fucking lameo piece of shit. Dude sounds like he's out to ruin one of the few good franchises the company has.

[Himu]

it was the journalist who said the game was embarrassing not rubin

[Madrun Badrun]

My wide played just as much SR3 as I did if not more. Rubin needs to find him a better lady or just stop being a fucking lameo piece of shit. Dude sounds like he's out to ruin one of the few good franchises the company has.

my wide

[Trent Dole]

Fffffffffuuuuuuuu, fixed. 

[pilonv1]

Crecente is a douche too

[Rahxephon91]

I had no idea Saints Row 3 did that well. That said, I did enjoy the game. I felt the over the topness was entertaining and needed in this very serious gen. I did feel that at some points it was actually funny as well. I also thought it was surprisingly colorful which I don' know, was something else I liked.

That said, the game is kind of filled with filler. It felt like the middle didn't have much going on with a lot of missions basically being the side stuff from 2, but just focused into the main mission. Surprisingly I thought there were less types of side activities compared to 2. My point is it just felt like actual real missions were spread too thin.

Still a solid and fun game. I'm interested in where it's going.

But I'm not sure what his quote means.

Does he mean embarrassing in that Saint's Row is'nt as big of deal as those titles? I guess, but I mean the fact that it sold 3 million is pretty amazing. I mean the quality is there gamewise, but to really best those titles would mean a lot more money. At this point, what separtes SR and say a Rockstar game is only budget. But I mean, I'm pretty fine with SR as it is.

I don't think he's talking about the subject matter, but if he is well.................Yeah, but I don't need everything to strive and be the serious I wana be a dramatic movie wankfest that Rockstar games are. SR now actually seems to have a set personality and feel and it separates itself from the big direction AAA games seem to be going for. I kind of like that, we don't have big dumb comedy releases. We have our The Avengers, and our wanabe Godfathers, but no Anchormans. That sucks.

[Stoney Mason]

Wrong thread

[Great Rumbler]

Looks like Joystiq was fudging things a bit, here's the actual quote from THQ:

In January, THQ launched new original game Darksiders(TM), which achieved an average Metacritic rating of 83 and delivered strong commercial sales, with shipments of approximately 1.2 million units in its first four weeks.

Somehow that turned into "1.2 million sales in the US." Video game journalism ect.

[benjipwns]

I don't think he's talking about the subject matter, but if he is well.................

Crecente was, the purple dildos and hookers and everything. He would be embarrassed to have his wife or kid see him playing such a game:

I haven't played the game, I confess to Rubin, because I wouldn't want to be caught playing it by my wife or my son. It would be embarrassing.

[Rahxephon91]

I don't think he's talking about the subject matter, but if he is well.................

Crecente was, the purple dildos and hookers and everything. He would be embarrassed to have his wife or kid see him playing such a game:

I haven't played the game, I confess to Rubin, because I wouldn't want to be caught playing it by my wife or my son. It would be embarrassing.

Well I mean I you could honestly be embarrassed to play a great deal of video games in front lf your wife or gf.

[Human Snorenado]

If any prospective wife or gf I ever meet is too uptight to get stupid with a game where you have to drive a tiger around to build up your courage, then she's too uptight to be my wife or gf.  Fuck this guy, let's beat him with a floppy purple dildo.

[Takao]

Rubin should buy Crash from Activision, get Vigil to make it and take THQ out in one bizarre blaze of glory.

[chronovore]

The problem with THQ, at least where Darksiders and Saints Row are concerned, are not the quality of the game, but marketing, PR, and their inability to manage their own brands.

[Himu]

SR3 marketing and PR was great and all over the place. I'd see ads all over tv and everything.

[Human Snorenado]

SR3 marketing and PR was great and all over the place. I'd see ads all over tv and everything.

NEVAR FORGET

[Stoney Mason]

SR3 marketing and PR was great and all over the place. I'd see ads all over tv and everything.

I think the marketing wasn't great for a product aiming at mainstream sales (even though it sold pretty well). Which is different from me liking it as a bit of weird meta marketing.

[Eel O'Brian]

Saint's Row is only going to sell so much no matter what they do to it. It's probably best not to stick your finger in it and stir around in a fruitless attempt to broaden its appeal, especially when it seems to be the only game series making you any real money.

[Stoney Mason]

I actually don't think the embarrassing part of the whole thing is relevant. If Saints Row or any game sold 10 million copies, then nobody would care. Certainly GTA 3 has lots of "embarrassing" crude elements to it. I think he latches on to skyrim and rdr not because of their critical content but because of their sales content. The problem is, you can be a good studio and put out good work and never hit the quality and crossover sales level of Skyrim or RDR for lots of reasons.

If THQ had more money then Volition could probably take their time and maybe put out such a quality title. But that is highly unlikely to happen in their current financial situation.

[Eel O'Brian]

That's kind of dumb move, if that's indeed what he meant. It's sort of hard to parse exactly what he meant by any of it, hahaha. I'm picking up a "Slim Pickens riding the rocket" vibe here.

[cool breeze]

There was something during E3 where Rubin talked about focusing on middle tier games.  How the industry is focused on AAA/sink or swim games or smaller downloadable/indie games.  How the middle ground is pretty much dead this gen.  I don't know what that will amount to, or if Saint's Row and Darksiders are highly budgeted games.

[Stoney Mason]

There was something during E3 where Rubin talked about focusing on middle tier games.  How the industry is focused on AAA/sink or swim games or smaller downloadable/indie games.  How the middle ground is pretty much dead this gen.  I don't know what that will amount to, or if Saint's Row and Darksiders are highly budgeted games.

What I heard him say is that he wants to focus on lower budget AAA games which sounds a lot like jumbo shrimp to me.

I think Giant Bomb nailed it on the recent bombcast that a lot of this could have been defused if he had simply praised Volition for the work they had done on a game and a series that a lot of people really liked for the first time ever with that last installment before saying what he said. Instead the interview came off as just throwing them under the bus. Which is not to say that's how Rubin feels or is even accurate to what he said. But the way the article was written makes it sound that way a bit.

[Stoney Mason]

Isn't Darksiders 2 not out yet?

How can he shit on his own fucking game that is not out yet.

I wouldn't necessarily call it shitting on his own game although I certainly understand that view since he sort of says Vigil won't be working on it after this one. What in reality he is really saying is that he doesn't think it will sell gangbusters. Which is probably true. But then I doubt they will market the game much at all so its a self fulfilling prophecy.

[Himu]

SR3 marketing and PR was great and all over the place. I'd see ads all over tv and everything.

I think the marketing wasn't great for a product aiming at mainstream sales (even though it sold pretty well). Which is different from me liking it as a bit of weird meta marketing.

The main commercial was fine. The genki shit is confusing.

[Stoney Mason]

Rubin: Darksiders ‘other games’ quote “out of context”
New THQ head Jason Rubin has pushed back on reports of a question mark over the future of Darksiders, issuing a statement saying he’s “incredibly excited” about both Vigil and the franchise.



The original quote, taken from a Verge interview, read: “Darksiders II is very interesting but I think I can get that team to make other very interesting games.”

Rubin said today that the media had taken the wrong end of the stick when reporting the comment.

“A quote from a recent interview I did has been reported out of context by a number of news outlets,” said Rubin, speaking on Darksiders’ Facebook account.

“The quote implied that I am not enthusiastically behind the Darksiders universe, and that THQ has made decisions not to continue the Darksiders franchise. This is simply untrue.

“My quote, ‘I can get the team to make other interesting games,’ was intended in the context of having different teams within this incredibly talented studio work on new original IP, as well as continuing to support the Darksiders franchise.

“I enjoyed the original game when it came out, and one of my first tweets as president of THQ was, ‘Best part of my new job at THQ? When the Darksiders II playable suddenly drops on my desk… @thq’. Since that tweet I have been playing a lot of Darksiders II and it is far better than the first.

“I’m incredibly excited about Vigil and the Darksiders franchise. Keep your eyes peeled on Monday

[Joe Molotov]

"Saints Row 3 is still embarrassing filth, though" he added.

[etiolate]

Obviously they lack the complex depth of character that is Crash Bandicoot.

[Trent Dole]

Any member of the media that's been involved with Kotaco especially, yeah re: thread title change
Wish he'd unshit on SR3, care about that more than Darksiders.

[Himu]

he has un-shat on SR3. He did another READ THE INTERVIEW thing days ago.

[Eel O'Brian]

[Purple Filth]

So far he's spending as much time backpedaling as doing anything else.

pretty much

[chronovore]

He tried to unshat on it, anyway.  His explanation reads a bit like an apologetic son-in-law telling his mother-in-law that he didn't mean "YOU CUNT", he meant "YOU CUN'T POSSIBLY THINK I DON'T RESPECT AND LOVE YOU" while his wife watches on disapprovingly.