- Primary Subject: Saints Row
- Key Update: Former design director says revival pitch stalled; questions Embracer’s ability to move series forward
- Status: No active project publicly confirmed
- Last Verified: February 23, 2026
- Quick Answer: A former creative lead believes Saints Row is effectively dead after a failed revival pitch and the fallout from the 2022 reboot. With Volition closed and Embracer restructuring, the franchise’s future is uncertain.
The future of Saints Row has never looked more uncertain, and this time the concern isn’t coming from fans or critics but from one of the franchise’s original creative leaders.
Chris Stockman, the design director behind the first Saints Row game, recently stated in a Discord conversation that he believes the series is effectively dead.
According to Stockman, he was invited to prepare a pitch for a potential revival but ultimately felt that Embracer Group has “zero ability” to move the franchise forward.
He added that after presenting a path forward, communication stopped entirely. From where he stood, the door had already closed.
Did the Reboot Kill Saints Row?
That comment lands harder considering the franchise was already fragile following years of uncertainty, compounded by the disappointing performance of the 2022 Saints Row reboot.
The reboot attempted to modernize the formula with a new cast and a more contemporary tone, but many longtime fans felt it abandoned the personality and emotional core that defined earlier entries.
Instead of leaning into either the grounded criminal drama of Saints Row 2 or the outrageous spectacle of Saints Row IV, it landed awkwardly in between.
Critics argued the game suffered from tonal clashes, technical shortcomings, and a script that appealed to neither core fans nor fresh audiences.
Commercially, it didn’t meet expectations, and shortly afterward the original developer, Volition was shut down during Embracer’s restructuring.
Could a 1970s Prequel Have Saved the Series?
Stockman’s revival idea reportedly focused on returning to the series’ roots, possibly through a 1970s-era prequel exploring the formation of the gangs.
It was perceived by some as a conservative creative shift, steering away from tonal swings and doubling down on what the franchise actually is.
Over time, Saints Row struggled with tonal escalation, especially since the first two games mixed satire with unexpectedly serious storytelling.
By the time Saints Row: The Third launched, the series had fully embraced spectacle and absurd humor, expanding its mainstream reach while alienating some longtime fans.
Saints Row IV pushed even further into superhero parody territory, which some embraced and others saw as abandoning the crime sandbox identity entirely.
The 2022 reboot attempted to reset everything, but without the original characters or a clear tonal anchor, it fractured the audience even more.
Is Competing With GTA a Lost Cause?
Outside of creative choices, there’s the simple market truth that Saints Row lived in GTA’s shadow, first finding success as a more exaggerated counterpoint to Grand Theft Auto IV before being measured against Grand Theft Auto V.
But today, the open-world sandbox genre is more resource-intensive than ever. Competing directly with Rockstar’s scale is unrealistic for most studios, something Stockman himself has acknowledged in past comments.
His philosophy suggested that Saints Row didn’t need to beat GTA — it needed to carve a strong second-place identity by being focused, smartly scoped, and distinct.
The challenge is that executing that kind of strategy still requires publisher confidence, long-term investment, and tolerance for risk.
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