The Saints Row reboot is off to a promising start after placing second in units sold in Europe and the United States. Unfortunately, Embracer Group CEO, Lars Wingefors, doesn't see it that way.
According to Axios' Stephen Totilo, Wingefors wasn't pleased with the numbers posted by Saints Row. In an investors call, Totilo quotes Wingeforse, saying that the Embracer CEO was "sad to see also fans not happy." Totilo added that Wingeforce wants to circle back to Saints Row's sales figures in the next quarterly report to see if things have improved.
QUOTE: Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors talking today to investors about new Saints Row. He was bullish on it pre-release.
Doesn't sound thrilled, but believes game will make money
"Personally I had hoped for a greater reception of the game. It’s been a very polarized view...
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) September 21, 2022
If we're being honest, it feels unfair to compare Saints Row's sales to the other games that sold better, namely: Grand Theft Auto 5 and Madden NFL 23.
Madden NFL traditionally outsells every game every time it comes out in the United States. We're not saying that it's okay to settle for second place, but we're talking about the Call of Duty of football games.
Meanwhile, GTA 5's sales are self-explanatory. Although it's somewhat surprising that GTA 5 outsold Saints Row in Europe when the game didn't even crack the Top 10 across the pond, the point remains - the latest GTA game is the second-best-selling game in video game history. Finally, Saints Row didn't launch until August 23 and suffered from negative reviews from a lot of critics that might've been expecting too much from it.
If anything, there's a positive takeaway from Saints Row's somewhat successful launch - the reboot still sold relatively well despite the polarizing public perception following its launch last year.
Hopefully, Embracer and Deep Silver Volition will take these numbers in stride. They'll still need to go back to the drawing board to come up with a way to bring the series back to its glory days. But, at the very least, they shouldn't feel like rebooting Saints Row was the wrong decision. It's possible that they might have to give up on competing against GTA 5. At this point, the only game that could potentially outsell GTA 5 (and even then it's a long shot) is its sequel.
