Kingdom Come: Redemption 2 Officially a huge success for Warhorse Studios, the developer announced during a recent community stream that its medieval RPG has now surpassed 6 million copies sold worldwide. For any single-player RPG, this is undoubtedly a huge milestone, but it seems even more impressive when you put those numbers next to the original. Kingdom Come: Redemption. Given that Kingdom Come: Redemption 2 Now less than 17 months old, it has already doubled the sales of its predecessor in a short time.
For Warhorse, this is obviously big news that is more than worth celebrating. Kingdom Come: Redemption A bold historical RPG has gone from experiment to franchise with some serious commercial power behind it. Still, there's a big catch with any franchise like this, because Kingdom Come: Redemption 2The success of also means that Warhorse is entering a very different future than the one that followed the original game.
Warhorse's open-world Lord of the Rings game already feels like the GTA 6 of RPGs
Warhorse Studios' Lord of the Rings game has already generated hype, and it could have the same impact on the industry as GTA 6.
Kingdom Come has become too big to stay small
original Kingdom Come: Redemption was a success, but it always felt like an underdog compared to all the other major open-world RPG franchises out there. It was a grounded medieval RPG with no dragons, no magic, no fantasy races, and no desire to make its world more accessible or easier than it, according to Warhorse, needed to be. While it became popular, it still felt like the type of game that succeeded largely because of how different it was from everything else around it.
Guess the games from emojis.
get started
Guess the games from emojis.
Easy (120 seconds) Medium (90 seconds) Hard (60 seconds)
of course, Kingdom Come: Redemption 2 That changed for the franchise, and it did so quickly. First Kingdom Come: Redemption 2 million copies were sold after just one year, 3 million more than two years later, and it took almost 6 years to reach 6 million. KCD2On the other hand, it reached the same sales milestone in less than a third of that time, showing that Warhorse is no longer dealing with a niche curiosity.
original Kingdom Come: Redemption was a success, but it always felt like an underdog compared to all the other major open-world RPG franchises out there.
But that's where the gospel starts to get a little more complicated. essentially, come to the kingdom Now it's big enough to create even bigger expectations. With that of course comes huge budgets and huge pressure on studios, which is a somewhat bitter reality for any game developer. If Kingdom Come: Redemption Once akin to a scrappy outsider, it can no longer stay that way, as its sequel has now decided for it what it will be—and Warhorse has little choice but to ride that wave.
However, this does not mean that the developer should entertain every idea that it is tempted to realize. more successful come to the kingdom A bigger map, a more cinematic story, a wider audience, and perhaps a more accessible experience than anything else. Kingdom Come: Redemption 2 Tried to be. Some of that growth will be natural, fixed and KCD2 It's already proven that Warhorse can build on the original game's formula without losing its soul. But the danger is going too far in that direction.
One of the reasons come to the kingdom Such a fantastic franchise is because it is stubborn. It forces players to play by its rules and live with the consequences of their decisions. As popular as a series becomes, though, it can be difficult to keep those rough edges around that give the IP its distinct identity.
KCD26 million in sales doesn't mean that Warhorse needs to make another game a blockbuster fantasy RPG, as it could be argued that the studio now has permission to keep faith in the formula established over two games. The catch is that great success often brings increased pressure to welcome more, and come to the kingdomIts greatest strength has always been about how unpleasant it actually is. As such, Warhorse needs to find a way to preserve that quality as it moves forward into a more glorious future.
Warhorse's future is bigger than the kingdom, come now
It's also worth mentioning that the timing of this sales milestone makes the situation even more interesting. Working on another now with Warhorse come to the kingdom An adventure and open-world RPG set in Middle-earth, the developer now has more than ever, but that's only half the battle. Now that it's working on one of the most recognizable IPs in history — and it will naturally defy their iconic design philosophy in many ways — it has to ask itself if it wants to be as big as it can be now, or if it'd rather stay committed to this one-lane road. Kingdom Come: Redemption.
The catch is that great success often brings increased pressure to welcome more, and come to the kingdomIts greatest strength has always been about how unpleasant it actually is.
Some would impulsively call this a “sell-out” moment for Warhorse, as it may immediately seem like the developer has essentially handed itself over to a franchise that has its own set of rules and limitations. Within Middle-earth, it can be difficult for a studio to stay true to itself, and this concern really begins. Warhorse is now successful enough to rely on something as big as an open world Lord of the Rings game, but that also means it's successful enough to pull away from the one thing that made it so interesting in the first place. come to the kingdom It may be bigger now than it was in 2018, but it's still an unfamiliar, tougher, less globally marketable franchise than Middle-earth.
That's the uncomfortable part KCD2success of Warhorse has proven it come to the kingdom might sell, but it proved that the studio could be valuable enough to involve itself in something more recognizable. From a business perspective, that makes perfect sense. The Lord of the Rings While it is one of the most easily protected fantasy brands in the world to develop a game around come to the kingdom is still a story-based RPG that refuses to give players the kind of fantasy power they expect from other open-world RPGs.
but yes KCD26 million in sales is great news for Warhorse, but it could be argued that they also mark a moment when the studio went too big. come to the kingdom. Warhorse has earned the right to pursue something big, but its biggest challenge now is making sure that success doesn't turn its most diverse franchise into something that works among safer, more universally loved opportunities.
- issued
-
February 4, 2025
- ESRB
-
Mature 17+ / Use of alcohol, blood and gore, sexual content, strong language, intense violence, partial nudity
- developer(s)
-
Warhorse Studios
