Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch believes that the Saints Row franchise is dead because games like it aren’t financially viable anymore. Speaking to Game File’s Stephen Totilo, Karch spoke about the rising costs of game development, and why that means we won’t get to see many games with the same budget as 2022’s Saints Row.
“They were so expensive for what they were,” Karch said, referring to the Saints Row games. “They didn’t know what they were building. They didn’t have any real direction. It couldn’t last. And so, who’s going to fund them for the next game after that disaster?”
For some context, Saints Row as a series had historically reinvented itself quite a few times. While it originally started off as a crime drama game in the vein of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, with its third release, Saints Row was reinvented into more of a lighthearted game where more focus is put down to the player having fun thanks to wacky situations they find themselves in.
Saints Row 4, on the other hand, turned into essentially a superhero game, with the player having access to various superpowers that they could then use to fight off an alien invasion. 2022’s Saints Row was an attempt at a reset button, with the game aiming for a middle ground between the original Saints Row and the zanier Saints Row The Third.
Karch also spoke about how the level of investment required for the Saints Row game didn’t directly translate into appropriate returns. While he acknowledges that keeping developer Volition would have been nice, he also noted that it wasn’t financially feasible.
“It would be nice in an ideal world for everyone to have a job,” Karch said. “But games with nine-figure budgets are making eight figures in revenue and that’s dooming a lot of developers.”
“The days of throwing money at games other than maybe the GTAs of the world is over,” Karch continued. “It’s over. This business needs to mature. If it doesn’t, the whole business is in trouble. Unfortunately, that means layoffs.”
While an attempt was made to bring the Saints Row franchise back with a bang with a reboot of the series in 2022, the title ended up being a financial flop. Back in May 2024, reports popped up indicating that only 1.7 million copies of Saints Row (2022) had been sold. The poor performance of Saints Row amidst the general chaos surrounding the Embracer Group ultimately led to developer Volition getting shut down in 2023.
“This past June, Embracer Group announced a restructuring program to strengthen Embracer and maintain its position as a leader in the video game industry,” said Volition in a statement back in 2023. “As part of that program, they evaluated strategic and operational goals and made the difficult decision to close Volition effective immediately.”
For more details about 2022’s Saints Row, check out our review. Also check out the details surrounding a rumoured pitch for Saints Row 5 that would have featured the classic cast returning, including characters like Johnny Gat, Shaundi, and Pierce.
