THQ has made it official that Saints Row: The Third standalone expansion pack titled Enter The Dominatrix has been scrapped to become incorporated into the fourth sequel of the game.
After a series of small downloadable content packs, the publisher of the game had made announcement of the first standalone expansion pack in May, citing autumn as the possible date for release.
However, once the THQ President Jason Rubin took a look at the results of the ambitious efforts by the development team of Volition, he was genuinely impressed. He decided to give the developers more time and resources to work on Enter The Dominatrix and reserved it for incorporation into what he referred to as “The Next Great Sequel in the Saints Row Franchise.”
“When I looked at the Enter The Dominatrix expansion in production at Volition, I was blown away by the ideas and desire to expand the fiction of the franchise,” said Rubin. “I asked the team what it could achieve given more time, more resources, and a broader scope for the project. We all agreed we wanted to play that game. When it comes to Saints Row, it’s clear our fans want bigger, better, and even more over the top, and that’s why Enter The Dominatrix will now be incorporated into a vastly expanded, full-fledged sequel, scheduled for calendar 2013.”
The newly-appointed THQ President defined the latest development in the Saints Row series as a high-quality and connected experience, hinting that the next title in the series may bring back the multiplayer mode. There is also a possibility of competitive element making its return after remaining absent from Saints Row: The Third.
While rolling the planned expansion pack into Saints Row 4 may help in taking the development of Saints Row 4 forward, the delay in the release of Enter The Dominatrix will result in a significant decrease in the firm’s net sales for the year 2013, with the expected hit to go up to $20,000. The shares of THQ have already begun to decrease since the announcement of its decision to scrap the new expansion pack.
The fans of the franchise had been anxiously waiting for the first standalone expansion pack of Saints Row: The Third. While the company had kept the major details of Enter The Dominatrix under wraps, the original description of the expansion pack had revealed that the alien warlord Zinyak is all set to invade Earth once again. To set the plan in motion, he abducts the head of the Third Street Saints and traps him in a virtual world. This lays down the foundation for The Matrix parody, with the characters gaining superpowers to make the experience fun and exciting.
THQ seems pretty excited about the next Saints Row title, expecting it to receive a warm reception. However, the fans of the series will have to wait until April 2013 to find out if the game really does manage to live up to the expectations.