Saber's CEO apologized to the writer he attacked over ChatGPT accusations
Matt Karch privately apologized to Stella Sacco for how he spoke about her in the press, and she accepted. Saber also quietly added the AI disclosure to the game’s Steam page. Then Karch used the same public statement to insult a different writer.
The Saber Interactive AI dispute reached something close to a resolution over the weekend, and then didn’t quite stick the landing.
On August 15, writer Stella Sacco posted that she’d received a long email from Saber CEO Matt Karch. She said he apologized unreservedly for how he’d spoken about her in the press, and that she’d confirmed it came from him.
She kept the contents private and accepted it.
What she said
Sacco’s response was more gracious than the situation required.
“Apologies are simply in too short supply these days to spurn one when it’s offered,” she wrote, while noting that she and Karch remain opposed on the use of AI. She added that she hoped it was the last statement she’d need to make about any of it.
That’s a clean ending to a week in which a CEO publicly called her a nobody, said he’d had to consult a chatbot to work out who she was, and told the press he’d have been glad to replace her with AI in hindsight.
The part that actually mattered
Buried under the personalities is the substantive change, and it’s the thing that should have happened first.
Saber has added an AI disclosure to the Rideshare “Stimulator” Steam page. Through two earlier statements the company had insisted there was nothing to disclose yet, saying the page would be updated once the feature set was finalized. It’s updated now.
So the store page says what’s in the game. That’s the concrete outcome, and it’s what the original complaint was pointing at.
Then he posted on LinkedIn
The same day as the apology, Karch published a separate reflection, and for a stretch it reads like someone who’d thought about it.
He wrote about resolving conflicts human-to-human rather than through public statements, and about owning it directly with a person when you’ve crossed a line. He didn’t name Sacco. He also made clear he hasn’t changed his position on using generative AI in games.
Then, in the same post, he took a shot at a different writer.
Chet Faliszek, known for his work on Portal and Half-Life, had published a 26-minute video criticizing Karch’s original comments, and said people should feel free to make fun of him if they ran into him. Karch characterized that as encouraging people to accost him, and called Faliszek an unsuccessful writer. He didn’t name him either.
Where it leaves things
The apology looks real, and Sacco treated it as such. It cost Karch something to send it, and she took it at face value.
The LinkedIn post is harder to square. A statement about resolving disputes privately rather than through the press, which insults a named-but-unnamed third party through the press, is arguing against itself in real time.
None of it settles the original disagreement. Sacco says she was taken off the project and replaced with ChatGPT. Saber denies replacing any writer with AI while confirming the game uses it. Neither account has been independently verified and probably won’t be.
What did change is smaller and more useful than any of the statements. A game that was using generative AI without saying so on its store page now says so. Players can decide what they think about that, which is all the disclosure was ever supposed to let them do.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Aftermath (August 15, 2026), verified for Sacco’s full Bluesky statement about receiving the email, her confirmation that it came from Karch, her decision to keep the contents private, and the original August 12 post that started the dispute
PC Gamer (August 15, 2026), verified for the update confirming the private apology, Karch’s LinkedIn reflection, Saber’s original denial, and the studio confirming generative AI use while attributing the story to human writers
Destructoid (August 2026), verified for Karch’s swipe at Chet Faliszek, Faliszek’s 26-minute critical video and his remark about making fun of Karch, Karch’s “accost” characterization, and his not naming Faliszek in the post
Kotaku and Insider Gaming (August 15, 2026), verified for Sacco’s “apologies are in too short supply” line, her acceptance of the apology, the two writers remaining opposed on AI, and Giant Bomb’s dramatic reading of the original statement
NeonLightsMedia (August 2026), verified for the AI disclosure being added to the Rideshare “Stimulator” Steam page after two earlier statements said it would come once the feature set was final