Kingdom Come: Deliverance II studio axes human translator in favor of AI

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Cutting corners: After its release to generally positive reviews in February 2025, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II sold several million copies worldwide. Czech developer Warhorse Studios is not exactly struggling financially, yet the company is actively pursuing extensive AI adoption, reportedly to "save finances."

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II will most likely be Warhorse Studios' last game to receive a human translation. According to a recent post by a Czech translator, the Prague-based studio is switching to LLM-based machine translations for future projects. Fans are far from thrilled as the studio's co-founder seems intent on putting AI everywhere.

Max Hejtmánek worked with Warhorse for nearly four years, curating Czech-to-English translations for KCD2, its DLCs, and various marketing materials. "Simply put, if you've ever played KCD2 in English, you've quite likely seen my work," he wrote on the Kingdom Come subreddit. His translations have likely reached players worldwide, too, since the English version serves as the foundation for other localized editions of the game.

[OTHER] Fired from Warhorse Studios and replaced with AI
by u/ThousandDemons in kingdomcome

On March 27, 2026, the translator was unexpectedly called to an unscheduled meeting and fired with no prior warning. According to Hejtmánek, Warhorse managers said they needed to let him go to make the company more efficient and reduce expenses. His role had become obsolete, as AI was now capable of handling all translations for the studio's upcoming projects.

"I want you to know that the growing use of AI greatly affects people in the games 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," said Hejtmánek in his farewell message.

The translator said he will not violate the non-disclosure agreement he signed with Warhorse, but he plans to share his unpleasant experience publicly. He has no interest in returning to the company, as his former employer clearly no longer values his skills. Hejtmánek also urged fans not to review-bomb KCD2 or other Warhorse games on Steam – a request that, so far, seems largely moot.

Hejtmánek's remarks appear to be a subtle critique of Daniel Vávra, Warhorse co-founder and KCD2 director. Vávra recently described DLSS5 as "just a little uncanny" and called it the beginning of a new revolution in graphics, insisting that "haters" will not stop progress. He argued that the technology is far more than a simple AI slop filter, despite recent confirmation from Nvidia that DLSS5 is indeed hallucinating sloppy graphics that weren't present in the original 3D data.

– Daniel Vávra ⚔ (@DanielVavra) March 23, 2026

Nvidia's DLSS5 demo has become a major talking point within the gaming industry. Some developers are outright rejecting the technology, while executives like Vávra are eager to apply AI to graphics, translations, and anything else they can automate.

Hejtmánek's farewell post serves as a stark reminder of the real impact AI is already having on the industry, and a signal for players about which developers to support.

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance II studio axes human translator in favor of AI

 

[The Talking Tech]

Another type of profession taken away by A.I
But the government and the A.I apologists online would dismiss that as "just a generational transition"...the same way Trump dismissed COVID that if he acted quicker to address the situation properly it would had saved the lives of thousands of people in the USA alone....funny enough Trump can't seem to be able to handle either situation accordingly.

 

[yRaz]

Another type of profession taken by away A.I
But the A.I apologists on this website would tell you that "it's just a generational transition"
Lol

natural human dialogue is better but the profit margins will shove AI down our throats while we still pay $60+ a game. The enshitifying continues whether AI makes a better product or not

 

[Endymio]

Another type of profession taken by away A.I

And thus opening up fast, high-quality translation services to billions of people who can't afford to pay the salary of a full-time translator.

But the government and the A.I apologists on online would dismiss that as "just a generational transition"...the same way Trump dismissed COVID that if he acted quicker it would had saved the lives of thousands of people in the USA alone.

Nonsense. As has become painfully obvious in the years since, all the shutdowns, masking, and social distancing accomplished was to destroy the economy and cause millions of children serious, potentially life-long developmental issues. The only thing that helped was vaccines ... and when Trump announced he'd deliver a vaccine that year, every media outlet in the country called him a liar, noting the average approval time for new vaccines was 5+ years. Trump did it in 9 months, by entirely restructuring how the FDA approves vaccines.

What's particularly ironic is that all through February and the first week of March 2020, every Democrat in the country said Trump was being "racist" and "scaring people for no reason" when he talked about the dangers of Covid. During the Feb 25 DNC presidential primary debate, not one single candidate even mentioned Covid as a potential issue. Even in March, Nancy Pelosi was telling people to come "party in the streets" of SF, and NYC Mayor de Blasio was encouraging New Yorkers to ignore Covid warnings and get out and mingle more.

Finally, I'll note that within 24 hours of Biden taking office, the media stopped running their nonstop alarmist "Covid death count ticker" on every screen. Which was good for Biden, because a full 18 months after he was elected, the per-day new Covid case counts were five times higher than the worst day ever under Trump ... and that despite having three vaccines and 2 years of time to prepare.

The mistakes that turned New York into an epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic

Caught between a mayor’s indecision and a president’s inattention, the nation’s largest city was left dangerously exposed to the coronavirus pandemic.

www.yahoo.com

 

[ScottSoapbox]

So the company should keep paying a person full time when his entire job can be done with a piece of software?

I hear the company also stopped using the post to send invoices. Stupid internet stealing jobs.

 

[NumberNine]

When he stops making good games, I'll stop buying them. Until then, I'll enjoy these gaming masterpieces guilt-free. Turn off the news occasionally and get some sunlight.

 

[toooooot]

So the company should keep paying a person full time when his entire job can be done with a piece of software?

I hear the company also stopped using the post to send invoices. Stupid internet stealing jobs.

A lot of jobs in game industry is already part time or contract based. Those probably account for over 50% of all jobs there. I still think this is sad. There are a lot of people who could be getting at least some money. Now more and more of them will have to look for other ways to earn money at the same time many other industries shrink leaving more and more desperate people realizing they have no ways to make money.

 

[abactuon]

The second part of 'Kingdom Come: Deliverance' is a simulation of the life of a serf. I didn't like it.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

As someone using multiple AI-based translation tools on a daily basis, for multiple languages, I genuinely think you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about here....

High-quality, lol :-D

Having seen the output of people who work at companies like Crunchyroll and Funimation, AI can hardly be any worse.

A lot of jobs in game industry is already part time or contract based. Those probably account for over 50% of all jobs there. I still think this is sad. There are a lot of people who could be getting at least some money. Now more and more of them will have to look for other ways to earn money at the same time many other industries shrink leaving more and more desperate people realizing they have no ways to make money.

I agree that it does suck, having stable employment makes life far easier.

But on the other hand, we have heard for, what, 20 years now how horrible this industry is to working? People getting laid off en masse regardless of the sales of the game, alleged widespread it's and phones and isms, long term unpaid crunch, abusive management, and so on and so forth.

If you choose to continue working in this industry, shouldn't you have a backup plan ready? Why would you assume any job in the sector is stable at this point?

 

[Str8Shot]

...the same way Trump dismissed COVID that if he acted quicker to address the situation properly it would had saved the lives of thousands of people in the USA alone....funny enough Trump can't seem to be able to handle either situation accordingly.

Based on the events unfolding in this administration since its second inception, Trump is totally gone. Either someone’s totally calling the shots behind the scenes, or he’s so owned by the small-hat-wearers, or he was always one of THEM, only to have out of the proverbial closet during his second term. You can’t be this stupid and call anything in his admin an accident. Total dumpster fire, like his legacy or what’s left of it.

 

[Str8Shot]

.

The only thing that helped was vaccines ... and when Trump announced he'd deliver a vaccine that year, every media outlet in the country called him a liar, noting the average approval time for new vaccines was 5+ years. Trump did it in 9 months, by entirely restructuring how the FDA approves vaccines.

The mistakes that turned New York into an epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic

Caught between a mayor’s indecision and a president’s inattention, the nation’s largest city was left dangerously exposed to the coronavirus pandemic.

www.yahoo.com

Bro, did you not get the memo on how many people died (suddenly) from the vax or were permanently disabled. Some genius invention you say, from your “President of Peace.”

The vax is the reason for accelerated pathologies nowadays, and yet you praise the FDA’a “restructuring.” Dude, Trump issued an EUA which does away with vaccine approvals in the traditional sense of long-term safety testing. It fast-tracks releases of experimental drugs on an emergency-basis, that’s all. That was his big “restructuring.” You must be triple-vaxed.

Oh, and let’s not forget CV-19 was patented in the Royal Dutch Patent Office in 2015, and I even have the official screenshot from 2020 when it was uncovered on their official website.

 

[James321]

Maybe the translator was over charging for their services.

Besides sometimes it is just easier to deal with a computer. then it is dealing with a human with emotions.

This case makes a lot sense, as it is much quicker and affordable.

 

[nismo91]

Language is something that is MASSIVELY affected by technology. I remember my first time going to a language school to learn english, around 22 years ago or so, I had to use a pocket digital dictionary powered by AAA batteries to translate things because google translate wasn't around. that crap wasn't cheap and it doesn't even work properly in a complex sentence. this is during the golden time of msn messenger. ah, good times.

as a kid I think to myself: I wish in the future we have flying cars, and an affordable listening device capable of translating spoken words in an instant. look what we have now. even before AI booms, practically everybody could use google translate in their phone and do things that were considered magic 25 years ago.

when I first got my windows phone like 15 or 16 years ago, it was the first time I discovered I could translate pictures by just taking a photo of it. by about 10 years ago instant translation was already a thing and it was working really well for popular languages. I think 6 years ago around covid I've found out you can use transcribe translation in a meeting with foreign participant.

by now the translation technology has become so powerful that you will simply be out of a job if you work as a translator, regardless of AI.

 

[Vixiy]

Having seen the output of people who work at companies like Crunchyroll and Funimation, AI can hardly be any worse.

They've gotten worse since they started using AI.

 

[LordVile95]

Bro, did you not get the memo on how many people died (suddenly) from the vax or were permanently disabled. Some genius invention you say, from your “President of Peace.”

The vax is the reason for accelerated pathologies nowadays, and yet you praise the FDA’a “restructuring.” Dude, Trump issued an EUA which does away with vaccine approvals in the traditional sense of long-term safety testing. It fast-tracks releases of experimental drugs on an emergency-basis, that’s all. That was his big “restructuring.” You must be triple-vaxed.

Oh, and let’s not forget CV-19 was patented in the Royal Dutch Patent Office in 2015, and I even have the official screenshot from 2020 when it was uncovered on their official website.

You need to stop believing everything you see on the internet bud. Trump is an ***** but the vaccine hasn’t disabled anyone nor is it a reason for “accelerated pathologies”. Vaccines were always too heavily tested anyway due to them being preventative rather than curative.

The patent stuff is also nonsense

 

[havok585]

What is this BS ? pointing finger at a successful studio because, guess what? EVERY INDUSTRY ( the google you use everyday) do not use people for translation, they use compute resources !

 

[Theinsanegamer]

What is this BS ? pointing finger at a successful studio because, guess what? EVERY INDUSTRY ( the google you use everyday) do not use people for translation, they use compute resources !

No they don't. Calm down.

 

[stewi0001]

And they are going to reduce the cost of development so much that the selling price is going to dramatically drop! right? Right??? Riiiggghhtt???!?!?!?

 

[Axeia]

I'm sure a good translator can offer added value over AI by have insight into the culture etc. But I'm also pretty sure that AI already does it just as well 95% of the time for 5% or less of the pay. For something like a game that receives updates there's also the time aspect, translators take time due to work hours / other obligations - can't really automate it.
With AI, copy, paste, give it a quick review and done. Or more likely if this studio wants AI everywhere they might even fully automate it whenever they commit a new text to their software repository without any form of review.

Not bashing this guy as afaik he did excellent work but there's definitely 'professional' translators that rather than respecting the source material can't resist the urge to insert their own humor or agenda into the translation.
I remember this from a while back when the translation for dragon maid took 'artistic liberties'.

I'll take Ai slop over that.

 

[Lawdog]

It’s genuinely disheartening.

On one hand, the company doesn’t have much of a choice. Its priority is to optimize costs, and if it fails to continually adapt and reassess its operations, it risks going under.

On the other hand, this translator will no longer be compensated for his expertise. His work likely brought him a deep sense of fulfillment, knowing that his translations reached millions of players.

The company hired him for his skills and professionalism. Yet AI has now outpaced him. That’s a difficult reality to come to terms with. And it’s a stark reminder that no profession is entirely safe.