GOG has made their big announcement for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
They shared this statement on Twitter:
“Hear ye, hear ye!
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is coming DRM-free to GOG this Spring!
Be ready to crown your library with this ultimate medieval adventure from Warhorse Studios and keep it forever!”
The store listing is now live so you can wishlist it here.
We recently reported that Kingdom Come: Deliverance II got its release date rescheduled to come up a little earlier. It will now launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Steam and Epic Game Store, on February 4, 2025. It isn’t clear why GOG is getting the game a little bit later. We also don’t know if Warhorse has an exclusivity clause involved, or if this could be a decision they made of their own volition.
Still, it’s great news and a clear sign of a continuing relationship between Warhorse Studios and GOG. We would point out that the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance originally released on February 13, 2018. It then came to GOG on February 27, 2018. So it’s possible that this was a measure the studio took to protect their game’s launch sales.
While we laud GOG for holding firm on their DRM-free commitment, there are clear reasons why not every developer will be willing to partner with them for that purpose. Having DRM-free copies in circulation also means that a game will be vulnerable to piracy. It’s why the industry considers DRM measures like Denuvo a necessary evil.
Game companies have different stances on DRM. Even between those who use Denuvo, some decide to keep them on permanently, while others remove it a few weeks after launch. Notoriously, many games are hampered in their performance by Denuvo, and so gamers often clamor for them to be removed.
It’s too bad there aren’t more gamers who embrace the clear alternative in buying games DRM-free from platforms like GOG, but that’s where we get into how consumer behavior affects those choices. On a personal level, we think buying a game on GOG is ideal, as it gives you the option to get clean installers for them. You’re also completely free to do what you want with your games when you get them. It’s the reason GOG, and not Steam or Nexusmods, ended up becoming the home of Fallout London.
But with all that said we wonder when we’ll get the actual release date for Warhorse’s sprawling historical open world title sans those pesky DRMs. Hopefully it will only be a matter of weeks, just like the first game.
