Warhorse Studios Ditches Denuvo in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 After Community Backlash

In October, Warhorse Studios announced that the long-awaited RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 would use Denuvo protection, causing an uproar among players. The PC community on Steam said they were ready to refuse to buy the game if the DRM protection remained, fearing a decrease in performance and optimization issues, given that the first part already experienced difficulties on CryEngine.

However, on November 5, during a stream, the developers denied these rumors., assuring that "neither Denuvo nor any other protection" will be used in the sequel. This statement by Warhorse was perceived with suspicion: many players are sure that the studio really planned to use Denuvo, but changed its plans under pressure from the audience. Interestingly, the game has not yet been announced for the DRM-free platform GOG, which supports this theory.

The decision to remove the protection has caused gratitude among fans who are now ready to support the developers and buy the game. However, there are also critics who claim that the lack of DRM allows pirates to easily download the project, which reduces the motivation for some users to buy.

Despite all the controversy, Warhorse Studios reported high pre-orders, especially for the collector's editions. It seems that the rule "a good game is sold without protection" worked again. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will be released on February 11, 2025 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.