Warhorse Studios' new creative director Prokop Jirsa has waded into the AI debate, acknowledging both the risks and potential benefits of artificial intelligence in game development. His comments arrive as the Kingdom Come developer faces scrutiny over allegedly firing a translator to cut costs, a move some connected to broader industry cost-cutting tied to AI adoption.
Jirsa told PC Gamer he personally dislikes AI-generated art and understands player backlash against it. Yet he stopped short of ruling out AI tools entirely for future projects. Instead, Jirsa framed the technology as a tool developers must use carefully, weighing efficiency gains against creative integrity and player perception.
The Warhorse executive also doubled down on Kingdom Come's design philosophy. The studio deliberately builds friction into its games, rejecting the industry standard of smoothing away obstacles. Where most developers remove friction to retain players, Jirsa insisted Kingdom Come refuses that approach. The series' notoriously punishing difficulty and lack of hand-holding remain core to its identity.
This stance carries commercial risk. Harder games lose casual players. They demand more developer time to balance properly. Yet Warhorse sees the difficulty as inseparable from Kingdom Come's appeal. The series attracts players specifically seeking that resistance. Lowering the bar would hollow out what makes the franchise distinct.
The AI comments land in awkward timing. Warhorse used AI for Kingdom Come 2 development but claims it avoided AI-generated final assets. The translator firing contradicts Jirsa's careful positioning on the issue. Players read such layoffs as cost-cutting enabled by AI adoption, regardless of the studio's technical boundaries around the technology.
Jirsa's framing suggests Warhorse will continue walking a line between efficiency and authenticity. The studio won't abandon difficult design philosophy. But whether it can