[STEAM] Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Devs Answered Fan Questions on Reddit and Inevitably Most Were About AI

[Steam 0]

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developer Warhorse Studios came under fire during a

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AMA in which fans repeatedly questioned the team on its use of generative AI after it allegedly dismissed a translator to cut costs.

In March, former Warhorse translator

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to reveal his position had been made "obsolete" as the studio pivoted to AI in a bid to save money and "make the company more efficient." At the time, Hejtmánek said the decision "came as a huge shock," adding: "The discussion about using AI for translating had frequently come up in the past, something I was always strongly and vocally against, but never to the extent that it might actually cost me my job in the future. It had, of course, crossed my mind many times, but I naively thought my work at [Warhorse Studios] was valued enough that I might not be at immediate risk."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hejtmánek's firing took center stage during the team's

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, with most questions about the dismissal — and there were a lot of them — answered with an HR-friendly boilerplate statement insisting that as the issue "touche[d] on internal HR matters, I can’t comment on any present or past employee. That would be deeply unprofessional."

However, creative director Prokop Jirsa did state that the studio was "currently in the process of hiring new English translators. Actual humans," and planned to "have at least the same number of human translators on the next project as we had on KCD2."

Some of the questions were brutal, though. The team was

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by one person, "which one of the five of you could most easily be replaced with AI, and when will you be doing so?" and to its credit, they did respond, writing: "Hopefully none of us, and never. And that applies to the whole team." Another

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, "I always dreamt of working as a translator for Warhorse Studios, do you think I have a chance?" to which the studio invited the commenter to get in touch. Others asked if it was okay to

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,

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, and, is "

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since you fired the guy that did the English translation?"

Another person said that as a translator themselves, they'd been

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of Hejtmánek's firing. The redditor was directed to a

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in which the generic Warhorse Studios account said: "We hear you and your concerns. Hopefully this explains the situation a bit.

"We do not see AI as a substitute for human work, and we are currently looking to expand the company, including our translation team. Some team members find AI useful during early stages of production. However, we do not use AI-generated content in the final game and we have no plans to change this in the future."

With Warhorse outlining its alleged commitment to using "actual humans" for translation, some fans were

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that the team's responses were being downvoted, while others were

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with their responses, pointing out that the firing came after fans had

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found in-game.

It wasn't quite all about the firing, though. One fan asked for more details about the next project, to which designer Ondřej Bittner

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: "I personally cannot wait for the reveal! But the only timeframe I can put on it is: near future. Sorry for the ultimately vague answer, but my hands are tight [sic]." The team was also suitably vague when a commenter asked about the rumors of Warhore making an open-world Lord of the Rings game,

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: "We are hard at work on... something. I cannot disclose details but I can tell it is a huge, immersive RPG."

There was also an interesting comment about how

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. The system — which indicates whether you're safe, being hunted, or in active combat — reportedly generated "a lot of internal controversy."

"A lot of people thought that it was problematic that it indicated a lot of critical information to the player which Henry had no real way of knowing, e.g. letting the player know that an NPC is starting to recognise them even though the enemy is behind them," the team explained. "We also didn't like how it shifted the player's attention from the actual NPCs in the world to an artificial UI element. In the end, we went ahead with it, because ultimately it did make the stealth gameplay so much readable and playtesters loved it. But I think that every single person in the openworld team still to this day has a different opinion about how we should have done it right."

Clearly, the talk about AI dominated the

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AMA, leading one person to declare it a "train wreck." Creative director Prokop Jirsa responded to this comment to say "it was a really hot topic in our offices whether to do this AMA, but it gives us the opportunity to clear the air. Let’s see if we manage that."

Then: "Gamers care deeply about our industry and the people creating the things we all love, and sometimes that can create some toxicity. But honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way, because it also creates a huge amount of interesting and positive interactions."

Last week,

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.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at

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