Will Saints Row 4 take on GTA 5 this fall?

According to Deep Silver, missing out on PAX East later this month will mean missing out on a huge announcement from the publisher.  A tweet from Aubrey Norris exclaims:  “Dear Media:  You’re going to want to be at PAX East this year.  If not, you’re going to be missing out on something HUGE.  Just FYI!”

So what could this “huge” surprise be?  Speculation pins this big surprise to be the next Saints Row title from Volition, the development studio that Koch Media acquired in the recent bankruptcy of THQ.   If we’re going to assume that this “huge” surprise is related to Deep Silver and Koch Media, there aren’t many games in their lineup that could drum up as much fan enthusiam as a new Saints Row title.  Furthermore, its already been hinted at that another Saints Row title has been in development for quite some time at Volition.  Last summer, the president of THQ said that a new Saints Row title was slated for release in 2013.

This 2013 release date would likely be in the fall.  This would pit Saints Row 4 against GTA 5 and Watch Dogs, in a rush of open world titles competing for gamer’s attention.  GTA 5 is slated for a September release, while Watch Dogs is being readied for the holiday season as well.   It’ll be stiff competition for Volition, but the developers won a ton of new fans with Saints Row: The Third’s deviation from the traditional formula carving out an even bigger niche in the genre.

Then again, it could be completely unrelated to the Saints Row franchise, but what other HUGE news could there be?  Could it be even bigger than a new game?  Not from Koch Media or Deep Silver?  PAX East is already shaping up to hold some surprises from developers.  Blizzard is set to unveil a brand new game at the fan-convention, and now with Deep Silver setting the stage for an announcement as well, PAX East could shape up to hold some exciting news for gamers.

PAX East is being held in Boston from March 22 – 24.