Mike Watson, also known as IdolNinja, the senior community manager of Volition and well-known modder in the Saints Row community, has passed away. Watson was notable for creating multiple mods and leading the Saints Row 2 patch project to fix the game's PC port. Last year, he was diagnosed with stage four cancer but continued to contribute to the project regardless. With his illness becoming more perilous, however, Watson was forced to step down as Volition's community manager and patch project lead in May, with continued support from both Volition and Deep Silver.
Being developed during a time when Grand Theft Auto clones were popular, Volition's Saints Row series stayed true and unique to its name by giving players a great degree of creativity with more open-world sandbox options and features which felt more distinctive compared to other titles in the genre. The initial game spawned a successful franchise, and a reboot was recently announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live, which will reinterpret the series' trademark mayhem with a new cast of characters.
As reported by PC Gamer, Watson's death was confirmed by a former Volition employee, Ryan McCabe, who shared a tribute letter. "One of my Volition besties, Mike Watson, passed this morning after battling cancer for well over a year," wrote McCabe. While another employee initially posted about Mike Watson's death on Twitter, it was deleted due to excessive reactions to the recently announced Saints Row reboot. Numerous creators have also pitched in, showing their tributes and condolences to the highly respected developer.
Watson rose to success after creating "Gentlemen of the Row," a massive collection of mods, tweaks, and fixes that greatly enhanced the PC port of Saints Row 2. He then went on to create multiple mods for Saints Row 3, which was remastered last year including a massive enhancement mod called "Things To Do In Steelport" and several other small fixes for Saints Row 4. His passion for the series landed him the community manager role at Volition and saw him taking the lead on the patch project. After Saints Row 2's source code was rediscovered in 2019, Watson planned to fix the PC port, add missing console content and completely restore it more than his "Gentlemen of the Row" mod, but these plans fell short due to his illness.
Weather Volition will continue work on the patch project for Saints Row 2 or cancel it is currently unknown. Regardless, Watson's legacy is prominent throughout the history of the franchise, and his loss will surely be felt by the community that has been formed around the series.
Source: PC Gamer