Last year, developer Deep Silver Volition released the reboot of Saints Row which received middling reviews from both critics and fans. Now, Embracer Group has revealed that it was a commercial disappointment and fell short of sales expectations, though no exact figures were revealed.
Saints Row released back in August 2022 as a reboot of the long-running open-world action series, originally published by THQ. The game was met with a divisive reception, with many criticising its outdated open-world gameplay, poor visuals and lacklustre writing. It’s no surprise to learn that it underperformed commercially.
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Speaking during its Q3 2022 financial results, Embracer Group said that the Saints Row reboot didn’t meet sales expectations so the future of the series is up in the air at this point. The company stated:
“We have increased management focus and efforts to optimize investments and efficiency across the group even further. To simplify, each project has to earn its right to exist, which means we will increase our efforts to put quality first even further, and make sure we create unique positive player experiences.”
It’s a shame that Saints Row, which was once the fun uncle of the Grand Theft Auto clones, is now in a position where its future is uncertain due to the failure of the reboot. The older games had a great sense of humour and often poked fun at open-world concepts, while the reboot fell into the same pitfalls it once satirised (and was mostly void of any good humour).
In related news, Embracer Group is banking on The Lord of the Rings IP since it announced that it has plans to release five Lord of the Rings games before April 2024, which might include The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.
Saints Row is currently available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Source: Embracer Group
