‘Kingdom Come: Deliverance’ Series Director Claims Triple-A Studios Are “Really Terrified” Of Internet Critics Like Asmongold And The Critical Drinker: “When Somebody Starts To Critique The Game And The Corporate World, It Does Have An Impact”
According to Kingdom Come: Deliverance duology director Dan Vávra, contrary to what the overall industry would like the public to believe, the criticisms leveled against both the video game industry and its current output by such large online critics as Asmongold or The Critical Drinker are having a definitive “impact” on multiple Triple-A developers.
An industry veteran who previously served as the lead writer on the first two Mafia games before going on to co-found Warhorse Studios and create the aforementioned Czech-history-centric action RPG series, Vávra revealed this information during a long-form interview given to the Nejlepší Podcast, as hosted by the independent Czech network VOX TV, in April of last year.
Flying under the radar in English-speaking circles due to the fact that the discussion took place entirely in Czech, a video of his appearance was recently shared to the /r/Asmongold Reddit community, where it was subsequently picked up by the YouTuber and shared during one of his livestreams.
Per a translation of the interview provided by Reddit user /u/Paraezak (and supported by YouTube’s own auto-translated English-language subtitles), following a discussion about the long-awaited and soon-to-release Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Vávra told his hosts, “Listen, I’ve even heard that they’re [big developers/companies] really scared of ‘hatetubers’, let’s say. The kind of guys like The Critical Drinker, Asmongold and others who started criticizing big companies.”
“I thought it was so niche,” he explained. “Okay, he’s [Asmongold] got like a few million followers. His videos have some impact, but it’s definitely not what everybody is watching. And now, I’ve found out from some people that companies are really terrified of them and it’s really having an impact. That when somebody starts to critique the game and the corporate world, that it does have an impact.”
Turning to offer his own critiques of the industry, Vávra then asserted, “And it’s unsustainable how these corporations do it. Considering that they’ve now made games that nobody wanted. And they even said it. When those gamers started complaining, that they didn’t like it and they didn’t want that kind of game, the developers started telling them that they were stupid and that it wasn’t a game for them. Which is completely bizarre, that you’re insulting your own customers.”
Offering his thoughts on the interview, Asmongold proceeded to let out his inner Spider-Man and admit that he feels a duty to use his apparent influence responsibly.
“I view this as a responsibility,” he said. “I try to be as fair and critical as I can be and authentic. Now sometimes this rubs people the wrong way. People don’t like what my opinions are. That’s fine. But at the end of the day I will do my best to be as authentic as possible and so if you bring out a shitty game there will be a YouTube video about it.”
And really, that’s all a consumer can really ask of an internet personality like Asmongold.
After all, after decades of mainstream gaming publications acting as mouthpieces for the multibillion dollar publishers and publishing article after article on ‘Why [Latest Live Service Slop] is actually great and you’re a bigot for not liking it’, players just want to have someone on their side and giving a voice to their concerns.
To be fair, it is impossible to know just how far reaching Vávra’s insight into the industry is and how many studios really are keeping their ears to the ground when it comes to online backlash, as he understandably declined to name any specifics regarding who, where, and how he learned this information.
However, what is known is that Vávra’s comments about “insulting your own customers” is particularly spot on when it comes to the video game industry’s current culture. In fact, many studios outright dismiss player feedback and anything other than mindless optimism when it comes to discussing their next AAA multi-million dollar project.
RELATED: ‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ Review – A Name Can’t Carry the Weight Alone
Take, for example, the Firewalk Studios-developed, Sony-published disaster that was Concord, which was written off well before launch by anyone with eyeballs due to its unappealing character designs and tired regurgitation of the hero shooter formula.
If the developers had taken early criticisms to heart and responded accordingly, even if the game was still an overall failure, it wouldn’t have gone down as one of the biggest laughing stocks in video game history.
Instead, Firewalk Studios not only plugged their ears to any and all negativity, but Concord‘s animator Xander Farrell also decided to attack potential consumers by calling them “talentless freaks”.
As a result, the developer and its parent company were met with a ‘Morbius-ly’ bad time when the game launched in the Summer of 2024 to mockery and little else. The failed game was shut down and refunds were granted just a few days after launch, with the phrase ‘being Concord-ed’ even becoming a new short hand for ‘the untimely shutting down of a live-service game due to its rejection by players’.
Likewise, despite the “hatetubers” being vocal in their dislike of practically every aspect of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, from its character creator featuring a transgender ‘top scar’ option, to its hamfisted injection of contemporary sociopolitical topics like non-binary transitioning into a medieval fantasy setting, to the dumbing down of its gameplay and disregard for the player’s past character choices, BioWare held fast to their vision
Unfortunately for them, as history now knows, this latest entry performed far below expectations, going on to establish itself as the fastest Dragon Age entry to ‘Dragon Age‘ following its release.
And it’s not as if there’s some sort of industry-wide collapse in player interest. In drastic contrast to Sony and BioWare’s struggles, there exist a good number of studios who have cracked the code and understand that their consumers will happily pay money for an appealing product, even more so if it’s from a company who isn’t afraid to admit to and take responsibility for their mistakes (Can you tell someone’s marketing degree is coming in handy right now?).
One great and recent example is Arrowhead Game Studios, the developer behind Helldivers II. Despite being in the firm Japanese-American grip of the multibillion dollar Sony Interactive Entertainment, Arrowhead has proven themselves open to making changes based on fan feedback, having done so several times already (Admittedly, being one of Sony’s top sellers of 2024 likely comes with its fair share of leverage).
The lifespan of Helldivers II has come with a healthy amount of ups and downs, mostly due to meddling from both developers and executives alike. However, at the end of the day it is evident that the studio understands that keeping their player base happy is a crucial part of making sure their game sells.
Truly, it should be regarded as a good thing that there is an entire online industry whose sole existence is informing game developers on what gamers truly want, as the recent failures of numerous Triple-A and live-service titles proves that there’s a serious disconnect between developers and their customers.
These critics and their videos should be viewed as essentially free market research, as their entire brands are built on engaging with their video game-heavy communities and responding to their feedback.
(Devs should also get the ‘Return YouTube dislike’ extension for their browsers. It’s free, and more often than not, proves a damn good thermometer regarding player sentiment.)
Of course, this doesn’t mean that studios should acquiesce to the whims of every critic, whether they be someone like The Criticial Drinker, Asmongold (I’ve seen the roaches), or even Anita Sarkessian.
Rather, dev teams should have the liberty to try out different things. Creative writers and artists should push boundaries and even inlay a message or two if they see fit, as that is the beauty of creating art.
While history has shown that developers can be rewarded for innovation, attempting to do so means they have to risk failure – and that’s where the dishonesty of many mainstream video game studios comes is made apparent.
If a studio wants to make a game that actively goes against every instinct and convention regarding gameplay, storytelling, and design, then so be it. But if the audience responds and tells them that they don’t particularly like the end result, they need to acknowledge their failures and move on in kind. Enough with the constant attempts to convince players that a game they don’t want is, in fact, something they need to play for any number of reasons unrelated to one’s engagement with the actual content.
Ultimately, if what Vávra says is true and developers are finally listening to what gamers have to say, this can really only be taken as a bit of excellent news for both studios, who will soon the holes in their bank accounts patched up, and gamers, who would hopefully see a decrease in the number of trash titles being shoved into their faces.
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