Saints Row was originally intended to be called Bling Bling, and was planned for release on the PlayStation 2. Alan Lawrance has stated the "vision" of the original game to Saints Row changed very little, but the technology had.

Joseph Price, leader of the West Side Rollerz, was originally going to be in the Saints, as seen in an early trailer.

After the completion of The Punisher, artist Frank Marquart and a smaller group at Volition began preliminary work on a sequel tentatively titled "Punisher 2: Sandbox Punishment", planned for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2007. The scope of the game was to move away from linear, hallway-like level design to instead having a more open world setting, incorporating aspects from the comics such as the Battle Van, and appearances from characters like Daredevil, Deadpool and Elektra. It's likely the plot would have followed the post-credits scene in the first game, featuring Kingpin preparing to enact revenge on the Punisher. The game that would later become Saints Row was being developed simultaneously, prompting The Punisher team to develop the game with an early build of the same engine Saints Row was using. Punisher 2 only spent a month and a half in development before being scrapped, though some of the vehicles and animations made from it would be carried over or reconsidered for the Saints Row series.