"They've ghosted me": Saints Row design director says he believes the series is "dead" after pitching prequel

Make sure the dildos are flying at half mast. Saints Row 1 design director Chris Stockman has said he believes the series is "dead", following conversations with Embracer Group about his pitch for a prequel. According to the developer, who currently heads VR studio Bit Planet Games, that chatter about a potential Saints Rowssurection post Embracer's closing of Volition has ended in the publishers ghosting Stockman.
Read more

"They've ghosted me": Saints Row design director says he believes the series is "dead" after pitching prequel

"I get the sense that Embracer has zero ability to do anything with it"

[Some Saints shooting a bloke in the Saints Row reboot.]

Image credit: Deep Silver

News

by Mark Warren
Senior Staff Writer

Published on Feb. 23, 2026

33 comments

Make sure the dildos are flying at half mast. Saints Row 1 design director Chris Stockman has said he believes the series is "dead", following conversations with Embracer Group about his pitch for a prequel. According to the developer, who currently heads VR studio Bit Planet Games, that chatter about a potential Saints Rowssurection post Embracer's closing of Volition has ended in the publishers ghosting Stockman.

Stockman's pitch for a Saints Row comeback - revolving around a trip back to the 70s to unearth how the series' gangs came to be via an adventure with a similar tone to the series first couple of entries - gained traction online late last year. The developer subsequently revealed current series owners Embracer had expressed interest in hearing him out on it.

Sadly, the latest updates Stockman's offered in chats on Bit Planet's Discord server (spotted by Europeanvideogamer) don't paint a very rosy picture in terms of how his resuscitation efforts are working out. "I think the franchise is dead, unfortunately," he told one user during a January exchange. "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."

Also, in case you were wondering, Stockman isn't sure whether Saints Row newslady Jane Valderamma was based on Family Guy newslady Tricia Takanawa. I didn't need to tell you that, but it was the subject of that January Discord chat immediately prior to Stockman dropping the bombshell that he thinks Saints Row's gone the way of the dodo. Boy, sometimes things escalate quickly.

For what it's worth, the developer's subsequently emphasised in a comment on February 17th that the ball is still very much in Embracer's court if they want to license or contract the Saints Row series out to his studio. However, he says he's "done all I can do to try and make that happen".

So, things are looking bleak if you're holding out for a dildo-batless revival for Saints Row headed up by some series veterans.

*Original source*