A big win for gamers: The new Saints Row reboot is coming day-and-date to Google Stadia

Both Saints Row: The Third – Remastered, and Saints Row IV: Re-Elected are present on the Stadia store, and they’re a load of fun, provided you’re okay with a bunch of crude humor. What’s amazing to me is that after being called a clone of Grand Theft Auto, the series completely re-invented itself into something that doesn’t take itself too seriously, while at the same time having plenty of unique story beats, wacky approaches to themes, and mechanics that GTA would never do.

Many gamers are accustomed to Stadia not getting day-and-date releases with other consoles, and while it’s true that many classic titles that are nearly a decade old get new life on the cloud gaming service, Saints Row just surprised everyone with a tweet stating that the reboot of the series, aptly named “Saints Row”, would in fact be releasing on Stadia on the same day as it would on competing home consoles – August 23, 2022.

Initially, the title was delayed from February 25th of this year for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows, and at that time, Google Stadia was not mentioned in the announcement. The fact that it’s present and will be available to play without a download or installation right through the Chrome browser is a huge win for all gamers, especially as you can play Stadia for free and just purchase Saints Row on day one to play it with one click. I mean, the bar of entry has virtually dissolved!

For those who are unaware, Saints Row is an upcoming action-adventure game that reboots the series. It’s developed by Volition and published by Deep Silver (who also published games like Chorus and Metro Exodus, which are also on Stadia). The premise is that you play “The Boss”, a former member of Marshall Defense Industries, and must assemble a new game from dissatisfied members of the existing three criminal gangs of Santos Ileso. The goal is to seize power from these rival gangs as the newcomer and pretty much own the city.

Anyone familiar with Grand Theft Auto gameplay will feel right at home with Saints Row when it releases, and despite the similarities that are often drawn, there’s plenty to differentiate it. With that being said, you can still blow up cars with a rocket launcher, so I’m happy.