Saber CEO apologizes to Rideshare Stimulator lead dev after outburst but still sneaks in a jab at a former Valve writer

Matt Karch, the chief executive at Saber Interactive, has formally apologized to Stella Sacco, one of the studio’s writers who claims to have been replaced by ChatGPT. She worked on Rideshare Stimulator, a game so heavily infested with AI it’s a miracle we didn’t get more stories like this related to it.

As Sacco wrote on her Bluesky account, Karch “apologized unreservedly for the awful way he spoke about me in the press.” The full contents of the email will remain private, as Sacco says she does not plan to release any concrete details. She did confirm the email came from Karch, though.

https://bsky.app/profile/antlervel.vet/post/3mt57o6to6s2o

However, as PC Gamer spotted, Karch went public via his LinkedIn account, taking a jab at a “failed writer,” which he then corrected to “well-known writer of some classic games” after being called out for it. It seems the writer in question is none other than Chet Faliszek, one of Valve’s former writers and the narrative lead on so many amazing titles, including Portal and Left 4 Dead 1 and 2.

Faliszek had made a 26-minute video criticizing Karch and his response to Sacco’s statements but also said that people should “make fun of [Karch]” if they met him anywhere. Karch took personal offense to this and accused Faliszek of encouraging people to “accost” him.

Karch’s post further tries to argue that using the press or intermediary channels in disputes “rarely solves anything,” despite the fact that he was the first to do so by attacking Sacco with a cubic meter of vitriol, and still continues to do that by using LinkedIn, rather than personal communication, to call out Faliszek. He doesn’t even name the man.

Either way, Karch has at least come to his senses somewhat, and while I don’t for a minute believe he is doing this for any other reason than trying to win back a bunch of lost PR, it’s good that he said something positive for once.

The post Saber CEO apologizes to Rideshare Stimulator lead dev after outburst but still sneaks in a jab at a former Valve writer appeared first on Destructoid.