Saints Row Community Developer Mike "IdolNinja" Watson Has Died

Former Volition employee Ryan McCabe confirmed on ResetEra that Mike Watson, aka IdolNinja, passed away today. Watson was the senior community developer at Volition who was leading the Saints Row 2 patch project at the studio.

Watson announced in May he was stepping down from his role as Volition's community manager as he battled stage four cancer. Afterward, he said in a Steam post that he would continue to work on the Saints Row 2 patch. In the post, Watson wrote that both stepping down from the role and continuing to work on Saints Row 2 were his decisions and that both Volition and publisher Deep Silver had been supportive of him

Watson worked on many mods for the series, including ones for Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row IV. His hard work and dedication caught the eye of Volition and he joined the studio in an official capacity.

In the same Steam post back in May, Watson also briefly mentioned the new Saints Row title that was revealed yesterday. "Oh, and one last thing... while I probably won't be here to see the launch, our new Saints Row game is absolutely going to blow the roof off," Watson wrote. "I am beyond proud to have been a part of bringing it to life."

"His passion was palpable and infectious for everything he loved," McCabe wrote of Watson on ResetEra. "From comics to movies to games to Saints Row... and for as much as he loved them, it was always clear that more than anything, he loved his friends even more."