Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 English translator says Warhorse studios replaced him with AI to cut costs: “I was told my role was now obsolete”

Passion projects often turn into blockbuster hits in the video game world, but these days, job losses are becoming increasingly prevalent. The latest story comes from Warhorse Studios. On March 27, 2026, Czech-to-English translator and editor Max Hejtmanek learned he had been let go from his four-year role after working on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. The reason was that the company had replaced him with AI to handle all future translations, aiming to improve efficiency and cut expenses.

Hejtmanek was struck with grief upon being let go by Warhorse Studios and took to the Kingdom Come subreddit to share the news in a detailed post. Moderators were initially skeptical, but they verified his news as genuine.

He stated in the Reddit post:

“Yesterday, March 27, 2026, with no forewarning, I was invited to a meeting and promptly told that, in an effort to ‘make the company more effective’ and ‘save finances’, as of next month, my position at the company would become ‘obsolete’ in favor of using AI for all translations going forward.”

For context, he handled everything in the English version, including dialogue trees that shaped character outcomes, quest logs that guided players through the game’s story, item descriptions, and even promotional material.

He stated, “Simply put, if you’ve ever played KCD2 in English, you’ve quite likely seen my work.”

He was opposed to the use of AI for translation work in the past and stated that human nuance mattered too much in a story as fleshed out as Kingdom Come: Deliverance, given how story-driven the game is. Still, he never believed that it would result in his termination so suddenly.

He stated, “This came as a huge shock to me… I naively thought that my work at WHS was valued enough that I might not be at immediate risk. I feel incredibly betrayed by the management of the company I’ve come to care about greatly these past almost 4 years, and am heartbroken I won’t get to see my friends and colleagues at the office every day.”

He continued that he didn’t want his position back and asked fans not to harass key developers or staff members or even review bomb the game. He continued:

“I want to remind folks 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 values the work of their employees, not to mention the environment.”

Warhorse Studios and its publisher have yet to comment on the matter.