Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Faces Backlash, Developers Defend Historical Accuracy

Warhorse Studios, the developers behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (KCD2), are pushing back against criticism regarding the game's increased diversity. Recent online backlash has prompted the team to clarify their creative choices.

In a February 3, 2025 interview with PC Gamer, PR Manager Tobias Stolz-Zwilling addressed the controversy: "Several years ago, we were branded one way; now another. It seems someone's always trying to label us, and we're just trying to make a cool videogame." This statement follows criticism from some quarters labeling the game's inclusion of LGBTQ+ content and other elements as "woke."

Senior Game Designer Ondřej Bittner echoed this sentiment, stating, "We think the extreme voices are just never happy."

KCD2's Diverse Setting: A Matter of Historical Accuracy

The game's setting in Kuttenberg, Bohemia's financial center, is key to understanding its diverse cast. Bittner explained, "There's more ethnicities in Kuttenberg because Kuttenberg is the royal mint." The city's status attracted people from across Europe, resulting in a more diverse population than depicted in previous installments.

Bittner highlighted the inclusion of various cultural and ethnic groups, including Italians, German speakers, and a Jewish quarter, emphasizing, "I think that it's important to not just include these people, but their vision of the world, which can sometimes feel lacking in games or media that call themselves diverse."

Stolz-Zwilling stressed that Warhorse Studios' approach to KCD2 was driven by community feedback, not mandates from their publisher, Plaion or Embracer. "Everything makes sense. Everything we put there was double and triple checked," he stated.

Pre-Orders Remain Unaffected

Addressing rumors of refund requests following the backlash, writer Daniel Vávra stated on Twitter (X) that KCD2's sales-return ratio remains unchanged. He attributed a recent dip in Steam chart rankings to concurrent discounts on multiple popular games, citing similar drops in pre-orders for Monster Hunter: Wilds as an example.

Vávra also refuted claims of a Saudi Arabian ban due to unskippable LGBTQ+ scenes, clarifying, "It is a ROLE PLAYING GAME, so it is purely up to the player what decisions they make and for all the decisions they make, they are responsible for the consequences that correspond to the morals and social norms of the time."

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is available now on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.