Saints Row developer Volition "didn't know what they were building" with its reboot, says Saber CEO

by Danny Craig  · 
Saints Row developer Volition "didn't know what they were building" with its reboot, says Saber CEO
Deep Silver

Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch recently stated that he believes Saints Row studio Volition lacked "any real direction" with the franchise's poorly received reboot, resulting in its closure in 2023.

The details:

  • Speaking with Game File, Karch discussed the mass layoffs and studio closures that occurred as part of Embracer Group's restructuring program, with the CEO having worked at the company prior to Saber's split last year. On the topic of Volition, he stated that, while "it would be nice in an ideal world for everyone to have a job," the studio's workforce was "so expensive for what they were."

  • Karch went on to say that the Saints Row team "didn't know what they were building" with the 2022 reboot, and that the “days of throwing money at games other than maybe the GTAs of the world [are] over.” "They didn't know what they were building. They didn't have any real direction. It couldn't last," Karch said. "And so, who's going to fund them for the next game after that disaster?"

  • Embracer's CEO Lars Wingefors said in its November 2022 financial report that Saints Row was a commercial and critical disappointment, stating that it "did not meet the full expectations and left the fanbase partially polarised". Following Volition's closure, publisher Deep Silver stated that both Saints Row and Red Faction would "live on" at Embracer subsidiary Plaion, but it is still unlikely that either IP will receive any new entries in the near future.

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