Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Developers Focus on Engaged Players Over Massive Numbers for Success
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has cultivated a fiercely dedicated player community, and the uproar over its omission from The Game Awards 2025 was far more pronounced than the developer’s own response. According to communications director Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, this passionate engagement is what truly matters for success.
“I don’t think you need tens of millions of players to move forward, get better, or be successful,” Stolz-Zwilling shared. “What you need is a bunch of really engaged people who are your fans and biggest critics, in both positive and negative ways.”
As someone who struggled through the first Kingdom Come but ultimately put it down halfway, I can confidently say that many of my earlier frustrations have been addressed in the sequel, which has quickly become my favorite RPG of 2025. This improvement highlights how seriously Warhorse values feedback from its community, likely contributing to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s ability to reach a broader audience in a way the original game did not.
In the same discussion, lead designer Prokop Jirsa noted that the sequel’s success stems from its polish rather than any significant compromises.
“I honestly believe there’s big potential for original ideas that, if they were given a chance to be polished, could reach mainstream,” he remarked. “You can say the same thing about Death Stranding! It’s a game about delivering packages, and it’s a very successful mainstream game.”
What stands out most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is how it retains the essence of a niche, hardcore historical RPG while feeling more accessible. It remains a true sequel to the unforgiving first game, where you can still meet your demise from something as simple as a bad apple, yet the experience feels less frustrating this time around. I can’t quite explain why, but it just works.
The developers aimed for players to feel “extremely weak” during playtests, believing that the eventual sense of gaining strength would feel more rewarding.
