Gamers Cancel Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Pre-Orders Amid Denuvo News

The decision by developer Warhorse Studios and publisher Deep Silver has sparked a backlash among players who fear that the protection will worsen the game's performance. Given that the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance had optimization issues even without Denuvo, fans fear that its implementation will only make matters worse.

Over the past 24 hours, there have been numerous threads on Steam where users have reported that they have cancelled their pre-orders or refused to purchase the game after learning about the use of Denuvo. Many of these players had previously supported the developers by purchasing the original game without any protection and were prepared to do the same with the sequel, but the introduction of the anti-piracy system changed their minds.

On the bright side, Deep Silver has removed Denuvo in the past after some time after the release of games - usually a year or two later. This scenario was implemented with Metro: Exodus and Agents of Mayhem. Currently, Denuvo protection is still active in Dead Island 2, but it is rumored to be removed with a major patch on October 22, which will add New Game+ and Horde modes to the game. This gives hope that the sequel Kingdom Come: Deliverance will also get rid of the protection in the future.

Players who do not want to support the use of Denuvo can only be patient and wait until the publisher decides to remove the protection. By then, the game will likely receive updates that fix possible bugs, as well as planned story additions.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is scheduled to release on February 11, 2025 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.