Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Dev Denies Saudi Arabia Ban Rumor

Daniel Vávra, co-founder of Warhorse Studios, has denied a recent rumor that Saudi Arabia had banned Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 over an unskippable gay cutscene.

2018’s Kingdom Come Deliverance is a story-driven action role-playing game set in the medieval Kingdom of Bohemia. It pitches itself as an historically accurate representation of the setting, but its lack of people of color became a talking point in the months following release.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, due out February 4, 2025, once again leans on historical accuracy for its return to medieval Bohemia, but players can expect a slightly different experience. Warhorse has said that, because protagonist Henry is embarking on a journey from the countryside to a relatively cosmopolitan city that is besieged and occupied by an invading king, he will encounter a wide range of ethnicities and characters this time around.

The claim that Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 was banned in Saudi Arabia reportedly emerged from a tweet by a Saudi Arabian news outlet, and was picked up by western media and spread across social media and forums.

Now, Vávra has taken to social media to deny the claim and provide clarification on how Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 works. Vávra tweeted to say it does not have unskippable cutscenes and was not and is not banned in any country, “at least not that we know of.”

Vávra then pointed to the fact that the first Kingdom Come Deliverance had gay characters, and said players are responsible for their in-game decisions. “If you want Henry to try a same-sex adventure, feel free,” Vávra insisted. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. All affairs are (and were in KCD1) purely optional. The characters are perfectly aware that it was a forbidden sin.”

Following the Saudi Arabia ban rumor, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 became the latest video game to be singled out for being “woke” or including “forced diversity” — a growing online trend that some developers and publishers have felt the need to counter in recent months.

In September 2024, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot responded to a backlash against Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Black samurai protagonist to address “an important problem of perception that has been affecting the company’s performance.”

“I want to reaffirm that we are an entertainment-first company, creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda,” Guillemot continued. “We remain committed to creating games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy.”

As part of his response to the online backlash against Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Vávra made it clear that he doesn’t like “forced diversity,” insisting “nobody was forcing us to do anything, and we are not forcing anyone to do certain things.” He then reiterated comments Warhorse had already made about why the sequel is more diverse than its predecessor.

“The game takes place in one of the richest cities in Europe which was besieged by a massive foreign army,” he said. “That´s the reason why the life in such a city is more diverse than the life in villages which were featured in the first game.

“Musa came to Bohemia with an invading army as a member of the royal court of King Sigismund, whom he met thanks to his engagement at the court of Sultan Bayezid. He’s an educated noble and renaissance man from the Kingdom of Mali.

“At the same time, Musa is a very unusual figure for the local Bohemian folk, and many of the situations around him in the game stem from this. So his presence makes sense and creates lots of interesting situations in the game. The way he talks and behaves has a reason.

“Everything displayed corresponds to the morals and social norms of 1403 Bohemia and is only there to make an interesting story, and not at all to appeal to a ‘modern audience.’”

“Modern audience” is a now common phrase used online to deride games that are perceived to be appealing to a diverse audience. In the ongoing culture war, “modern audience” has become a meme, and is referenced in the downfall of everything from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League to Concord.

Vávra concluded his response by hitting back at the anti-woke brigade whose fears he had worked to assuage. “Some of them sadly turned into exactly the same narrative they pretend to be fighting against,” he said. “The amount of hateful behavior is really sad and it will damage any cause associated with it.”

When contacted by IGN, Warhorse and publisher Plaion pointed to Vávra X/Twitter thread.