Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 translator claims they have been "replaced with AI"; Warhorse says they "deeply value the people who shape our work"

March 31:  Added comment from Warhorse Studios.

A translator and localizer who worked on Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 for four years claims they have been let go by developer Warhorse Studios and “replaced with AI.” The employee, who was mostly involved in the Czech to English translation for the vast RPG, states that they were called to a meeting “with no forewarning” and told that their position would become “obsolete,” with a push towards using AI for future development.

Reddit user ThousandDemons’ names themselves as “Max H,” and has been verified by a moderator of the Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 subreddit as having “worked at Warhorse for three years and nine months.” I also reached out to Max and confirmed their identity, via their LinkedIn profile. In their Reddit post, Max explains, “I primarily worked on KCD2 and its DLC, including dialogues, quest logs, item names, and various other things, as well as some occasional marketing materials here and there. Simply put, if you’ve ever played KCD2 in English, you’ve quite likely seen my work.”

Max claims that, on Friday March 27, “I was invited to a meeting and promptly told that, in an effort to ‘make the company more effective’ and ‘save finances,’ as of next month, my position at the company would become ‘obsolete’ in favor of using AI for all translations going forward.”

“This came as a huge shock to me,” Max notes. “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.

“I feel incredibly betrayed by the management of the company I’ve come to care about greatly these past almost four years, and am heartbroken I won’t get to see my friends and colleagues at the office every day,” Max continues. “I want you to know that the growing use of AI greatly affects people in the game industry and many others, and I thought you should know how much the company that makes the games you love value the work of their employees, not to mention the environment.”

Max addresses Warhorse management, writing, “I won’t be breaking my NDA, nor am I looking for my job back or to start legal issues, but you can be damn sure I won’t keep quiet about my experience.” They add, “To any of my now-former colleagues reading this, I wish you all the best, and strongly hope none of you finds yourself in the same position as me.”

After the post quickly blew up in popularity, Max responded, thanking commenters for their support. “It’s a bit overwhelming to tell the truth, but just know that I truly appreciate it.” Along with noting that they have verified their LinkedIn with the mod team, they explain, “I would post my firing contract thing here, but I’m not sure if it’s legal to do so without breaking my NDA, so I’ll err on the side of caution.”

In the wake of this post, I spoke with Max via Reddit. They tell me that, as far as they know, no-one else at Warhorse has yet been let go for the same reason, although they do note “a larger number of people leaving either on their own accord or laid off in rather odd circumstances.” As one of just two long-term in-house translators and editors, they have attempted to contact their colleague to determine their status, but have yet to get in touch.

Max explains that the pair worked with “a number of external freelance translators and agencies who’ve translated for us over the years, but nobody longer than a few months at a time.” They remark, “As it was mostly just the two of us translating for KCD2 and the DLC, we became a bit of a chokepoint in the pipeline.”

“As a whole, it was clear that even management and other departments have started leaning into using LLMS, including code,” Max tells me. They also claim, “Without my approval, in order to meet deadlines, AI was used to do a solid chunk of the remaining translations” in the runup to KCD2’s release. “Most were checked and edited heavily by us, but there was definitely some material we didn’t get to give the proper care to before it went out.”

The writing and dialogue in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is often one of its greatest strengths, which is doubly impressive when you consider that it’s been translated into English from its original Czech. The prospect of that process being taken out of human hands would certainly dampen my enthusiasm for Warhorse’s future projects. I have reached out to Warhorse Studios for additional comment, and will update this story with any response I receive.

Warhorse is no stranger to the AI conversation. KCD2 director Daniel Vávra has stressed that, while he doesn’t like AI-generated art, he believes that “AI is here to stay.” While he’s recently stepped back from his role in games to focus on other opportunities including a Kingdom Come film, he did recently raise his head to offer thoughts on Nvidia’s controversial AI-powered DLSS 5 tech.

Update: Warhorse Studios has responded to my request for comment. It says, “Warhorse Studios has always been a talent-driven studio, and we deeply value the people who shape our work. Out of respect for the privacy and dignity of both current and former colleagues, we will not discuss individual situations publicly.”