Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 director defends Larian after AI “sh*tstorm”

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Larian Studios, the developer of Divinity, recently faced criticism for announcing plans to explore using AI in their game development process. Now, the director of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has publicly supported Larian’s CEO and their decision.

The announcement of a new Divinity game at The Game Awards immediately thrilled fans, even though it’s still early in development and won’t be available for some time. Excitement increased further when the Larian Studios CEO claimed this new installment will surpass even the critically acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3.

The CEO also mentioned the company is testing generative AI to handle tedious jobs—things like cleaning up motion capture data or editing audio. They’re also looking at how AI can help with creative tasks, such as brainstorming, creating drafts of presentations, designing initial artwork, and writing temporary content.

Look, I get why everyone was upset, but the studio head really clarified things. He basically said everything you see is made by real people – they’re writing all the stories and the art is all original. There was a lot of heat about them using AI to replace artists, but he was pretty emphatic that wasn’t happening. He even broke down the numbers – they have 72 artists total, 23 of whom are concept artists, and they’re still hiring more! He seemed genuinely proud of the team and wanted to reassure us it’s all human-made.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 director speaks out

The director of the RPG Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has also commented on the situation, pointing out that Larian Studios faced significant backlash for doing something many other developers also do.

While I’m not a big fan of art created by AI, we have to accept that it’s becoming a permanent part of our world. It can be a little scary, but that’s just the way things are going. I’d definitely welcome AI if it allowed me to create a fantastic game quickly with a small team, like we used to. We’d still need artists, writers, programmers, and designers, but AI could handle the repetitive, less interesting work, letting them focus on the most important creative aspects.

Daniel Vávra compared trying to stop the use of AI in game development to trying to stop the introduction of sewing machines to the textile industry. He questioned how anyone could tell if a game was created by a person or AI, and why developers would spend months and a lot of money when AI could achieve the same results quickly and for free.

AI is now a permanent part of video game development. Developers will decide how extensively they use it, but the topic continues to spark debate among players, no matter who weighs in.

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2025-12-18 16:18