The news cycle around Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, the upcoming title from Warhorse Studio, has largely centered around rumors of DEI agendas and the lack of faithfulness to established canon. While many people have rightfully criticized the retconning of the playable character Henry to allow for homosexual relationships in the game, much of the discussion has been focused on the belief that Embracer Group, a Swedish video game and entertainment company, was behind the forced inclusion of gay and non-white characters in the game.
Daniel Vavra, cofounder of Warhorse Studio, has been on the warpath for days now, trolling and fighting with critics on X. While some of the criticism is valid, much of the online discourse has been reduced to people believing that Daniel Vavra has "gone woke," sold out his proverbial soul to Embracer for ESG money, or that he's only made these changes due to his partial Jewish ancestry. Despite his insistence that he has not been forced or coerced by anyone to change his vision for KCD2, many people have not been willing to give Daniel Vavra the benefit of the doubt, especially after the initial leaks and rumors that Warhorse did not readily address turned out to be true.
Now we have reached a new level of paranoia as a tweet from an Embracer investor has gone viral, prompting many people to believe that they found the "smoking gun" that proves their claims of "forced inclusion" from an outside source. The tweet in question was from an X user who goes by the handle @stocksnchill, who responded to another user questioning his motives by saying, "I'm actually one of the investors who told Warhorse to make the game more gay. It will appeal more to the younger audience."
Many popular YouTubers and influencers online ran with this as proof that investors were somehow forcing DEI into the game, despite Daniel Vavra insisting that he had total creative control over KCD2. Daniel Vavra and @stocksnchill have both since come out to ridicule anyone who took this post seriously, namely YouTubers Endymion and Doctor Disaster. @stocksnchill took shots at both content creators on X, posting screenshots of both YouTubers videos while saying "Deal with it $EMBRAC" and "Haha I'm famous now guys $EMBRAC."
In a recent X post, Daniel Vavra said the following, "This is the most ridiculous part of the drama. Some people actually do believe, that this guy is THE MAN who forced DEI to KCD2 and use it as a proof, while knowingly ignoring the fact, that he was OBVIOUSLY TROLLING and IS ANTI DEI. He is not from Embracer and never met us. 😂🤡"
He would go one step further, responding to another X user by saying, "I have been under constant pressure for a decade because of my views. Last time somebody tried to cancel me for 'being a nazi' was literally three weeks ago. Conspiracy theory, that I am just pretending it to secretly smuggle DEI to a game I worked on for 7 years is hilarious."
While many will still be hesitant to trust Daniel Vavra, there are many other aspects of this story to consider. Embracer Group, who owns Warhorse studio, was founded by Lars Wingefors in 2011 and has undergone several transitions and evolutions along the way. Embracer is essentially split into three different companies, with these three controlling more than 100 games studios in over 40 countries combined. Embracer Group, like many publicly traded companies, doesn't try to hide their ESG driven agenda. They have several mentions of their sustainability practices on their own website, as well as an emphasis on "diversity and inclusion."Â
However, if you look deeper than these surface level platitudes, things become more complicated. In 2023, Embracer Group was unable to secure much needed funding in the amount of $2B from a Saudi Arabian investor, Savvy Gaming Group. Savvy Gaming is the second largest shareholder of Embracer Group, second only to Lars Wingefors, Embracer's founder. For comparison, Vanguard comes in at number nine, and Blackrock doesn't even make the top ten investors list. This makes the situation surrounding the ban of KCD2 in Saudi Arabia all the more interesting, as it would seem counterintuitive for a Saudi investing group to prioritize the injection of "wokeness" into a game, especially if the content of the game went against their regional beliefs and values.Â
Furthermore, Savvy Gaming claims to have an emphasis on diversity and inclusion, while seemingly not prioritizing this as an actual business practice.Â
CEO Brian Ward spoke to GamesIndustry.biz in 2023, and tried to quell concerns that the Saudi Arabian company wouldn't be inclusive enough, due to Saudi Arabia's well known stance on LGBT lifestyles and women's rights. Ward claimed that Savvy Games would operate like any other games company, and stated that 20% of the C-level staff were women. A cursory glance at their "Our People" section on their website would cast a large shadow of doubt on this faux emphasis on diversity and inclusion.
Getting back to the claims of Embracer Group interfering with Warhorse Studio's vision for KCD2, Matthew Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive, has previously
come out in defense of Embracer Group's founder Lars Wingefors. Saber Interactive most recently made headlines for their massively successful title Warhammer: Space Marine 2, as well as comments allegedly made by Matthew Karch criticizing Embracer Group for seemingly prioritizing agenda over enjoyability in their games. However, it's worth mentioning that Space Marine 2 was developed while Saber Interactive was still part of Embracer Group, and there were no substantial claims of "wokeness" or "DEI" levied at that game.Â
In addition, the original tweet from @stocksnchill that Daniel Vavra shared in his X post states, "Embracer bought Warhorse. Embracer is majority owned and led by Lars Wingefors who lets his studios have full creative freedom. The Blackrock thing is so stupid." Daniel Vavra sharing this tweet would indicate that once again, any changes that were made to KCD2 were made by Warhorse Studio, and not at the behest of some random investor, as many people were quick to believe. There will certainly still be a sizable number of people who believe that Warhorse Studio was "bought," but with less than a week until the release of KCD2, the best approach at this time is to simply wait and see.Â
