Saints Row Studio Was Too Expensive For What They Were, Exec Says

Saints Row studio Volition shut down in 2023 after 30 years, leading many to wonder about the future of the open-world crime franchise. The fate of the franchise is unknown, but Saber Interactive founder Matthew Karch shared some context surrounding the series. In short, he said the developer got too expensive to maintain.

“The Saints Row team is gone. They were so expensive for what they were,” Karch told Stephen Totilo for his GameFile newsletter, as reported by GamesRadar. “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?”

The newest Saints Row game was the 2022 reboot. The game underperformed commercial expectations at launch, but Embracer’s CEO said he was confident the game would make money and serve as a “starting point” for the series going forward.

Reacting to the closure of Volition, Karch said, “It would be nice in an ideal world for everyone to have a job.” However, games with “nine-figure budgets” that bring in eight figures of revenue may not be sustainable, he said. “That’s dooming a lot of developers,” Karch explained.

“The days of throwing money at games other than maybe the GTAs of the world is over,” he added. “It’s over. This business needs to mature. If it doesn’t, the whole business is in trouble. Unfortunately, that means layoffs.”

Before this, Karch said incredibly expensive video games are not necessary and contribute to job losses in the industry. “I think that the age of the $200 million, $300 million, $400 million AAA game is on its way out. I don’t think it’s necessary. I don’t think it’s appropriate,” Karch said aboard his $23 million private jet.

In 2023, Karch’s Beacon Interactive bought certain assets from Saber’s parent company Embracer as part of a divestiture from Embracer’s business operations in Russia. It was at this time that Karch and Embracer officially parted ways, with Beacon effectively buying Saber out of Embracer.

The Saints Row series lived in the shadow of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto, a much bigger and high-profile open-world crime franchise. The next entry is 2025’s GTA 6.