Tobi is also an old friend of ours.
We have talked about him and his Warhorse Studio many times. Including this time, I have interviewed Tobi personally about three times—to be honest, I'm running out of things to ask. Especially when I learned I could meet Brother Tobi again at ChinaJoy and chat, I thought I could scoop some juicy details about the new game. Instead, I was told we'd still be circling around the two old faces of the "Kingdom Come" series. You can imagine my frustration.
Anyway, having another hour or two to chat with Warhorse Studios' number one diplomat, rambling along and subtly trying to sweet-talk him to trick out some new game info, might just be a viable path.
Below is the transcript of the interview.
Actually, no matter how much sugar-coating I do, I didn't get anything out of it (whispers)
Q: You have worked at Warhorse Studios for over ten years, initially joining as a community manager, then transitioning to PR, and eventually becoming Director of Communications. What was the catalyst for this career shift? After ten years at Warhorse Studios, what touches you most about this team?
Tobi:That's really a good question—what exactly kept me here? I need to think about it carefully. There are several reasons. First, Warhorse Studios was my first formal job. Before that, I was only a freelance journalist. So, I have deep affection for this place; it was my first full-time job with a stable salary. Second, the studio atmosphere is excellent, and I feel a strong sense of belonging here.
When I first joined, the studio had only about thirty people; now it's close to three hundred. You could say I've grown alongside the studio over these years. This is my home, my team, and the "Kingdom Come" series is the game I've been part of—although I was only responsible for marketing and external communications. I didn't participate in actual development, nor was I among those coding or modeling, but I deeply identify with this project.
When I joined, the crowdfunding for the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance had just ended. Having accompanied this series for so many years, "Kingdom Come" feels like my child.
To this day, I truly enjoy my job. Of course, I occasionally receive offers from other studios, but I'm reluctant to leave this little nest I've built with my own hands. I don't know what kind of generous offer could change my mind.
Additionally, I am half German by blood, born and raised in Germany, and later went to university in the Czech Republic. I stayed in the Czech Republic entirely because of my job at Warhorse Studios. This was my first time living alone and my first long-term settlement in a foreign country.
I also bought a small house in the Czech Republic and now plan to start a family here. In short, Everythinggj has settled down.
Q: You mentioned you are half German—as everyone knows, the "Kingdom Come" series has taken plenty of jabs at Germans. The scene that impressed me most was smearing poop on the house of the German villager in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Do you feel offended by these jokes?
Tobi:Not at all, humor is special. Moreover, people need to learn self-deprecation. You might not know that in that particular scene, a guy pops out of the house saying, "Hey, what the hell are you doing?"—that was voiced by me. In a sense, players were indeed throwing poop at "my" house, haha.
For me, Czech humor is similar to British humor, full of self-deprecation and a playful view of life. I believe that once a society loses its sense of humor, it loses its vitality. People must be able to laugh at themselves, so these jokes don't make me uncomfortable at all.
Q: Outsiders generally consider "Kingdom Come" to be a niche, realistic historical RPG. From a PR and communication perspective, what was the most difficult phase for the team in sticking to this unpopular track for ten years? How did you persist?
Tobi:That's a tough question... I mean, you're definitely on the right track, but it just stirred up some painful memories from the past. Promoting the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance was incredibly difficult. There was a full four-year gap between the end of our crowdfunding campaign and the game's official release. Keeping players and the media engaged over those four years was extremely challenging. Every year, when interacting with the media and seeing the expectant looks from fans, I knew I had to deliver some new content.
Ensuring the game maintains its popularity over a four-year period is indeed a huge challenge.
Finally, although we did manage to bring many surprises to players with each promotional window, it essentially meant exposing a large amount of game content in advance, which wasn't an ideal promotional rhythm. Therefore, for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, we shortened the promotional cycle. The overall marketing period was only about one year, plus adjustments to the release date, all promotional content was rolled out compactly—whether dealing with media or addressing players.
The entire promotional rhythm was like "good news after good news" to maintain the game's热度 (heat/popularity).
The logic for managing the community is similar. Counting from the crowdfunding of the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, this IP has been around for twelve years—twelve whole years. You must continuously produce content to retain players. We organize fan meetups, game soundtrack concerts, and release merchandise like plush toys, all to keep player enthusiasm alive through these activities.
In marketing and promotion, our biggest fear is players losing sight and interest, causing the game to fade from public view and be quickly forgotten. Therefore, the most difficult part is maintaining continuous IP exposure and keeping players feeling fresh.
For us, starting with crowdfunding, it was truly extremely difficult.
Q: Are there any details you can reveal about the upcoming sequel in the new "Kingdom Come" series?
Tobi:What I can tell you is that the sequel will be released within Warhorse Studios' next fiscal year—roughly between April 1, 2027, and March 31, 2028. The new title will still be an open-world RPG, purely single-player. The story will take place within the same worldview as the "Kingdom Come" series. We will continue our consistent production philosophy while adding new content.
Unfortunately, there is limited information I can share; basically, this is all I can reveal.
Q: Compared to the promotional styles of other game publishers, Warhorse Studios' PR communication has always leaned towards sincerity and being down-to-earth, even personally engaging with the player community and participating in offline fan events. Is this communication style a corporate culture deliberately crafted by the team?
Tobi:It's entirely my personal style. Actually, most PR professionals in the industry do not personally appear for interviews or act as main spokespeople. PR work generally involves preparing for these activities, while the creative team usually handles the interviews.
But Warhorse Studios operates differently. I plan the promotional strategy and am also responsible for its implementation and external communication. I hold the dual roles of media spokesperson and PR planner, a composite position that is rare and hardly seen in other studios.
This model has both advantages and disadvantages. The downside is that media outlets prefer to talk to core developers like the Creative Director. When they hear it's just PR, many feel they won't get core information and decline interviews. The good news is that after twelve years, I've built a certain reputation, and media are willing to engage in deep conversations with me—I share many behind-the-scenes anecdotes and appropriately disclose internal information, providing valuable content for the media.
I would say that I try to integrate my personal personality into external communications, being friendly and open-minded, which helps bridge the distance with everyone.
Q: The biggest feature of the "Kingdom Come" series is its extreme historical realism of medieval Bohemia, abandoning magical elements and restoring real-life details. In terms of promotion and player communication, do you consider balancing historical authenticity and game fun to be the team's core creative challenge? How specifically do you make trade-offs?
Tobi:This is a major challenge we face every day. It's very demanding, but not entirely unsolvable.
Our philosophy is that we are making video games, and games must be fun—that's the baseline and it's crucial. Historical realism and immersive experiences are the means by which we create that fun. While historical realism might sound like a constraint, it's not an obstacle; rather, it's the framework and stage for our creativity. Our team employs a full-time historical consultant who participates in and oversees every aspect of quest design and scene construction.
She is a professional senior historian, and we communicate with her on almost all content. We discuss many designs and plot arrangements in advance—hey, does this design align with historical facts? If she vetoes it, we negotiate a compromise. We weigh things repeatedly every day; every design in the game has corresponding considerations. If a mechanism in the game is cumbersome to operate, it is deliberately designed that way.
For example, the sack-carrying segment, where players spend a long time moving those few sacks, was designed to help players empathize with Henry and increase the realism of medieval labor.
It can be said that all mechanisms in the game were added after careful consideration. We actually had many historically accurate designs that were ultimately discarded—for example, a complete injury and illness system. Adding it would have caused the development scope to spiral out of control and worsen the gameplay experience.
We have been striving for balance and have now found the appropriate scale, which is also why the "Kingdom Come" series is unique; there are no similar works on the market.
Q: Indeed, no game can compare to Kingdom Come: Deliverance. You actually designed a quest where the protagonist Henry tastes poop. I was shocked at the time.
Tobi:Hahaha, here you go again. But that storyline was truly brilliant; I still can't forget Henry's breakdown, "My God, oh my God." It was absolutely absurd.
Q: The reputation of the "Kingdom Come" series is clearly polarized. Some players extremely praise the hardcore realistic experience, while others find the gameplay tedious and the pace slow. So, in subsequent development, has the team drawn any new ideas from these player feedback?
Tobi:For us, negative feedback is even more valuable than positive reviews. From those dissatisfactions, we can gather many suggestions for improvement. During the late stages of developing the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, we collected a large amount of negative feedback, sorted through each piece, judged whether the opinions were reasonable, and distinguished between objective criticism and one-sided complaints. For instance, player complaints about awkward controls, numerous bugs, and unbalanced difficulty are considered effective criticism for us.
Of course, we stick to our original intentions for certain designs because they generally represent the core positioning of the "Kingdom Come" IP, supported by a complete creative logic. For non-core shortcomings, we make targeted modifications. For example, in the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, we initially designed the saving system to rely solely on manual saves using Saviour Schnapps, believing this enhanced immersion and forced players to plan their actions carefully. However, since all players disliked this mechanic, we added an auto-save on exit feature in subsequent updates. This adjustment was reasonable.
Most developers at Warhorse Studios browse player feedback, content creator reviews, and media critiques item by item, filtering for valuable improvement suggestions to adjust game content. Our core creative philosophy remains unchanged; we only polish and optimize details and address shortcomings.
Q: You have visited China many times, participating in various offline events and engaging closely with the Chinese player community. In your opinion, what are the obvious differences in preferences and focus points between Chinese players and overseas players regarding the "Kingdom Come" series?
Tobi:First, I was deeply impressed by the high level of engagement from Chinese players. Everyone dives deep into the game's background settings and shows immense creativity. The community also creates various fan-made merchandise—like this Master Hans figure I'm holding. The Chinese community also produces a large amount of fan fiction featuring Hans and Henry, with a very strong fan culture atmosphere, which really surprised me.
On the other hand, the emotional expression of the Chinese player base is very intense. As PR professionals, we must remain attentive at all times. Engaging with the community requires careful communication to avoid causing resentment among players. However, we don't want to play it too safe and lose the black humor style of our work—finding this balance is quite difficult.
But overall, we feel incredibly lucky and happy to have such a large and cohesive Chinese player community. We want to give back to our players and are planning to hold an original soundtrack concert for the game in China.
Q: Many players were moved by the character designs and storylines of Hans, Jeschke, and others in the game. Compared to the heroic narratives of traditional RPGs, the "Kingdom Come" series focuses on the growth story of Henry, an ordinary person. Was this平民 (commoner-focused) narrative the core positioning determined by the team from the beginning?
Tobi:We don't want to create cliché protagonists like Dragonborns or Chosen Ones who save the world—we want you to neither save the world nor need to save it. In the game, everyone looks down on you; no one cares if you live or die; people only ask, "Who the hell are you?" You must rely on yourself, gradually building your reputation and rising from humble beginnings—this setting is unique.
Traditional RPGs usually feature a world waiting for a savior, with everyone grateful to you. But our game is completely opposite. We want to create a realistically functioning world where the player is just an ordinary member. The world has its own logic and doesn't revolve around you—the protagonist. You are just one part of it; no one cares about your life or death; you can only rely on yourself.
The commoner perspective offers great immersion. But you are right; Henry's rise in life doesn't fully align with historical reality. It is difficult for an ordinary person to ascend to the upper class in a short time—not impossible, but the probability is extremely low. This is another trade-off we made between fun and historical realism.
We stick to our realistic core, but the game must be fun, so we need to design dramatic plots. This gives players the opportunity to interact with nobility, visit castles, participate in major battles, and witness grand spectacles.
These plot points occurring within a short timeframe might be the most distinctive gaming feature of the "Kingdom Come" series.
Q: Henry's core motivation throughout was simply to survive, reclaim his father's sword, and kill his enemy—that's all. This storyline was excellent. I remember you telling me at the G-Star exhibition in Korea that Henry's story had ended and the new title would start a new storyline. Will the protagonist of the new title still be a commoner from the lower class, or will it switch to a noble perspective? Can you reveal any information?
Tobi:All I can say is stay tuned; the story quality of the new title will not be disappointing, and players will be satisfied.
Q: After Kingdom Come: Deliverance II completed all initial concepts for the series and finalized all DLC content, did the overall feedback from the player community exceed the team's expectations? Currently, what are the areas where player demands for optimization and content are most concentrated?
Tobi:The most common request from players is for additional story DLCs; they want us to continue the stories of existing characters. However, we will not release further DLCs for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, as the team's energy needs to be fully devoted to the development of two new titles.
Overall, player satisfaction is very high. Everyone wants more content of the same type and style, as much as possible. Such love for our work from players is a huge affirmation for us.
So, the new title will be available to everyone very soon.
Q: Besides the existing "Kingdom Come" series and the mysterious Middle-earth of "The Lord of the Rings," does Warhorse Studios have plans to develop other IP series set in different historical eras?
Tobi:Currently, we have two new titles in development: a sequel to the new "Kingdom Come" series and a game set in the "Lord of the Rings" Middle-earth worldview. With a team of three hundred people working on two large projects simultaneously, the workload is massive. We probably don't have the bandwidth for anything else.
Q: Last time we discussed plans for IP film adaptations. Is there any new news regarding the movie adaptation of the "Kingdom Come" series?
Tobi:There is no new progress at the moment; the project is still underway. As far as I know, the script is completed, but film projects are not within the studio's business scope. The studio's core business is solely video game development.
Q: Are there any plans for launching merchandise in China?
Tobi:The difficulty is extremely high; we've made almost no progress. We are certainly eager to expand merchandise collaborations in the Chinese market. We have been urgently seeking local Chinese partners, but connecting with them has been consistently difficult. Currently, there isn't a good solution in place.
Q: The game has maintained steady popularity for many years since its launch. Besides content updates, will the official team continue to support the modding community? What role has the modding ecosystem played in the long-term vitality of the series?
Tobi:The modding community for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is still relatively small, although highly active. How should I put it? We fully support players creating mods to modify game content they are dissatisfied with. We are grateful to mod authors; sometimes developers even draw optimization inspiration from popular mods. For example, while developing Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, we directly incorporated the design of the most downloaded mod from the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance into the base game of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. Moreover, we optimized mod support, releasing mod compatibility on the launch day of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
For future new titles, we will continue to improve mod support.
Q: Does this mean that future new titles will come with official modding tools?
Tobi:I cannot make a definite promise, but the development of modding tools is on our consideration list. The modding ecosystem is very valuable for the long-term operation of the game. A shortcoming of the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance was that mod support came online too late, and the engine backend wasn't adapted for mods, making the process of installing mods cumbersome. Therefore, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II was prepared with compatibility in advance, offering a better experience. Although it may not be top-tier in the industry, it's better than nothing.
Q: Lastly, is there anything you'd like to say to Chinese players?
Tobi:This is my second time attending ChinaJoy. I want to say that the size and activity level of the Chinese player community astonish me every time. I am deeply impressed by the fan works you create and your ability to organize offline events.
We have been thinking about how to better give back to Chinese players.
Previously, we held a small-scale offline fan meetup at BiliBili World 2026. We are planning to host an original soundtrack concert and are also considering adding Chinese voiceovers to the game in the future. Implementing these initiatives is quite challenging, but we will do our best to push them forward. We deeply value Chinese players and hope you enjoy our games.
Q: If you want to have fun, don't forget to walk around in the cesspit more often.
Tobi:Hahaha, you still can't let that go.