I have a conspiracy theory:
Saints Row's reboot was originally more tonally in line with the older games, but corporate mandates (or retardation from Volition themselves) told them to make it more Fortnite-like.
At around 1:52 in the video above, MrSaintsGodzilla says how the game "looked totally different" when he saw the game in 2019 to the trailer reveal. I can also confirm that I have seen from an unnamed source concept art of the new game that confirms this around that same time (a gritty gang initiation where a new member of the saints is beaten by existing members). I also saw concept art of wacky ideas like an all girl roller derby gang, so maybe the game was always going to be like this and Volition are just retarded.