A former developer at Warhorse Studios alleges he was fired from his translator role yesterday and will be replaced by AI.
The developer, known only as Max H., claims he was invited to a meeting yesterday, 27th March, and told his position had been made “obsolete” as the studio worked to “make the company more effective” and “save finances”. He has reportedly verified his former employment to the Kingdom Come subreddit moderation team, which reports he worked there for a little over three and a half years.
“This came as a huge shock to me, as though the discussion about using AI for translating had frequently come up in the past, something I was always strongly and vocally against, but never to the extent that it might actually cost me my job in the future,” Max wrote. “It had, of course, crossed my mind many times, but I naively thought 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 four years, and am heartbroken I won’t get to see my friends and colleagues at the office every day.”
Addressing fans and gamers, Max added: “I want you to know 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 value the work of their employees, not to mention the environment.
“To all management at Warhorse, I won’t be breaking my NDA, of course, nor am I looking for my job back or to start legal issues, but you can be damn sure I won’t keep quiet about my experience.” He closed on asking fans not to review-bomb their games on Steam.
“PLEASE don’t harass anyone from WHS or review bomb their games on Steam, that isn’t my intention at all. All I want is for people to be more informed about what’s going on it the games industry behind closed doors,” they added.
It’s just the latest example of studios pivoting to AI to cut costs, time, and money. Just last week, Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss was forced to admit “2D visual props were created as part of early-stage iteration using experimental AI generative tools” despite not disclosing this before release, but claims it had always intended to replace them before release.
An early version of this story incorrectly named a different studio. This has now been rectified – apologies for any confusion.
