Biggest Competition GTA Has

Competition GTA Has

Saints Row is a video game franchise created by Volition, Inc. and published by Koch Media. Typically, gameplay is presented in open world format. Because of the mixture of nonlinear gameplay with action-adventure and racing sequences, the series is referred to as being sandbox style.

After completing Red Faction II in late 2002, developer Volition began work on the original Saints Row game in mid-2003. The game was released in 2006 to critical acclaim and commercial success. The sequel, Saints Row 2, was released in 2008 to similar acclaim but greater commercial success. The series' third entry, Saints Row: The Third was released on 15 November 2011. From Saints Row and Saints Row 2, the series has had unit sales in excess of six million, making it a best-selling video game franchise.

On 2 November 2011, THQ CEO Brian Farrell announced that Saints Row: The Third was already the most pre-ordered title in series history. In fact, the game had four times the number of pre-orders Saints Row 2 had two weeks before its launch. THQ estimated the game would ship over 3 million units before the publisher's fiscal year ends in March 2012. By comparison, Saints Row 2 launched in October 2008 and sold 2.6 million by the end of the fiscal year. On 25 January 2012, THQ announced that The Third had shipped 3.8 million units globally and are expecting to ship between five and six million units lifetime on the title.
The series in whole, has roughly sold 9.8 million copies.

Saints Row was the first installment in the series as a whole, having begun development in mid-2003 as a PlayStation 2 title under the name Bling Bling. The game was first announced at E3 2005 for the Xbox 360. As the first sandbox style video game to be released for the Xbox 360, Saints Row was widely anticipated; its pre-beta demo build set records after being downloaded nearly four hundred thousand times within a week. It had sales in excess of five hundred thousand during its September 2006 release month, and was critically acclaimed. To date, the game has had sales in excess of two million units. A GameCube version was planned but was scrapped due to the release of the Wii.

Saints Row 2 had begun development in mid-2006, a few months before the Xbox 360 release of Saints Row. While a PlayStation 3 port of Saints Row was in development, it was cancelled when Saints Row 2 was first officially confirmed in May 2007. A Microsoft Windows port, announced in June 2008, eventually released in the early months of 2009. Three downloadable content packs were developed and launched in mid-2009.

Saints Row: The Third was officially announced in March 2011. It was released in North America on 15 November 2011, then in Europe on 18 November 2011, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows platforms. The game began early development at Volition in September 2008, a month before Saints Row 2 was due to release.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Row_(series)