Saints Row 2 Delayed

The “year of the sandbox game” just received something of a minor setback, as THQ has delayed the release of Saints Row 2, the sequel to its GTA-killer franchise, by two months citing factors of product quality and marketing considerations.

Previously set for an August 26 release, the game will now hit store shelves on October 14, effectively putting it outside the bounds of THQ’s fiscal second quarter, which would mean bad news for THQ, which is counting on the title among others to push forward a sluggish year for sales.

Our take? If THQ is willing to sacrifice its Q2 numbers to make sure this game — which is already looking mighty promising — is up to snuff, then more power to them. Releasing in October, however, puts the game deeper into the competitive holiday season, and right smack dab into the same release period as GTA IV’s 360 downloadable content.

Next-Gen talked to analyst Colin Sebastian for his perspective.

“We believe the primary motivation for the shift is to enhance and improve the title’s cooperative (co-op) game-play, which is one of the unique features of this game,” Sebastian said.