A former developer from Warhorse Studios, the company responsible for Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its expansions, has reportedly been laid off without prior notice. The reason cited for his dismissal suggests the company intends to replace his role with artificial intelligence.
The developer, known as Max H, had his credentials verified by Reddit moderators as an official Warhorse developer, having worked with the company for approximately three years.
Max H shared the sudden and unexpected story of his termination on Reddit. On March 27, he was called to a meeting where he was informed of his layoff. The stated objectives were to “make the company more efficient” and “save finances,” explicitly mentioning that his position would become obsolete due to the adoption of AI translations.
“This came as a huge shock, because even though the discussion about using AI for translation had often been brought up in the past, I was always firmly and vocally against it, but never to the point that it could actually cost me my job in the future. It had, of course, crossed my mind many times, but I naively thought that my work at WHS was valued enough to not be at immediate risk,” Max H wrote in his post.
Max H emphasized that his post was not meant to incite hatred towards Warhorse. He conveyed his best wishes to the studio and its current employees, cautioning against any form of “review bombing” or similar negative actions. Instead, he presented his experience as a public service announcement, aiming to inform players about how AI is already impacting the gaming industry as a whole.
“I feel incredibly betrayed by the management of the company to which I became very attached over the past four years, and I am heartbroken that I won’t be able to see my friends and colleagues at the office every day. I want you to know that the increasing 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 values the work of its employees, let alone the environment,” Max H further stated.
Warhorse Studios has not yet issued an official comment regarding the layoffs.