The Saints Row franchise may have officially breathed its last breath. Chris Stockman, design director on the original 2006 Saints Row, went on Discord recently to deliver the news nobody wanted to hear: the franchise is dead, and Embracer Group, the current owner of the IP, has completely ignored his attempts to revive it.
Responding to a fan who pointed out that the last canonical Saints Row game came out a decade ago, Stockman didn’t sugarcoat it. “I think the franchise is dead, unfortunately. I get the sense that Embracer has zero ability to do anything with it. I wish things were different. I tried my best to offer a path forward but they’ve ghosted me.”
Coming from someone who literally helped build the foundation of the series, that’s about as grim as it gets.
A ’70s prequel that never got a chance
Back in November 2025, things actually looked hopeful for a moment. Stockman had announced on the Saints Row subreddit that he had been asked to put together a pitch for a new entry in the series.
His idea was a prequel set in 1970s Stilwater, exploring the origins of the Third Street Saints and characters like Julius Little and Benjamin King, with all the period aesthetics you’d expect, big Afros, bell-bottoms, and a soundtrack to match.
The concept had real potential. It would have taken the franchise back to its roots while offering something genuinely fresh. But after submitting his pitch to PLAION, an Embracer Group subsidiary, Stockman received nothing back. No feedback, no follow-up, no answer. Just silence.
Embracer’s track record speaks for itself
This outcome isn’t exactly surprising when you look at Embracer’s history with the studios and franchises under its umbrella.
After the 2022 Saints Row reboot landed with mixed reviews and disappointing sales, Embracer made the decision to shut down Volition in 2023, the studio that had been developing Saints Row games for nearly two decades.
With Volition gone, the IP was transferred to PLAION, where it has sat untouched ever since.
Saints Row isn’t the only casualty either. Planned revivals for both Perfect Dark and Deus Ex were also scrapped under Embracer’s watch, and the Tomb Raider series is currently navigating its own uncertainty following yet another round of internal restructuring. The pattern is hard to ignore at this point.
For longtime fans of the franchise, from the grounded gang warfare of the first two games to the completely unhinged alien invasions of Saints Row IV, this feels like a rough ending to a series that genuinely had something special going for it before losing its way.
Do you think Saints Row deserves a second chance, or is it better to let it rest? Tell us what you think in the comments!