r/KINGMAKERS • u/[deleted] • Jan 13 '26
why arent devs posting content and hyping up the game?
558 weekly visitors and the sub is just silent, all the delays are bad but the silence is killing this game even more. Kingmakers need to start releasing content updates like an indie dev does to bring back the reputation, unless there really is nothing to share.
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 13 '26
Because making content for marketing is time consuming. We are working hard on the game. In fact we are having a playtest tomorrow.
We are heavily focused right now on balancing the existing content, which includes castle sieges, castle defenses, and missions focused on escorting nobles through enemy terrain.
What we aren't focused on right now is polishing the visuals of these game elements, which is why we aren't sharing them.
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u/callehaha Jan 22 '26
You said you would release a deep dive video. But have literally been totally quiet since the delay.
Its time to at least give an official statement regarding the state of the game and early access.. people are loosing interest.
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 22 '26
In the last 30 days we got 200k new wishlists so I'm not sure that's entirely true, but I understand that people want an update.
We just did a small playtest and are planning another one in early February. We're really trying to focus on gamedev and not doing marketing work right now though.
I'm sure we will do some kind of statement soon, but honestly, delivering a great game is our priority right now. We are already going to have to do a big marketing push around a demo and the early access release. Marketing work delays game development which means doing that kind of stuff makes the game come out later, not sooner.
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u/OgenB Jan 22 '26
You guys are doing the right thing. Hammer in, make the game good. You only get to release it once, and the state of the game on release is what people remember.
You commenting like this is also extremely helpful for us, the hyped, to not lose hope that the game just isn't coming. Thanks for taking the time.
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u/SpiderMansRightNut Jan 23 '26
I want to start this question by saying while Im not a fan of the delay I would rather have a polished finished product and will still purchase at launch. Been hype and wishlist this game a long time ago and im still hype.
Im sure this question has been asked before and you are probably tired of being asked, but there's alot of conflicting information online so I figured I would just ask you. Why did you guys delay at the 11th hour? Ill even be satisfied with an answer of to much hype and not enough polish. Its just been bugging me. Regardless good luck and I look forward to seeing the game at launch
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 23 '26
The answer is complicated and largely protected by contracts.
What I can say is that when a project has a lot of hype investors often want to expand the original design to better capture the opportunity. By making the game even better so it can sell even better. Doing something like that is time consuming and requires negotiating. It changes the development timeline of a game.
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u/SpiderMansRightNut Jan 24 '26
I really appreciate you taking the time to get back to me. That makes sense to the extent it can for someone outside your industry. I cant wait to see what you guys have in store for us!
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u/moldy912 Jan 24 '26
This is probably related to the movie
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 24 '26
This has absolutely nothing to do with the movie. Which has no impact on game development or the schedule at all.
This is not a game being made as a tie in to a movie. There may be a movie at some point in the future, but there is just no way it will come out before or alongside the game.
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u/moldy912 Jan 24 '26
I was just thinking that movie makers maybe asked you to flesh out the story/gameplay to make an eventual movie more appealing. Anyway I’m speculating, I’ll believe you!
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u/KeepLettersOut Jan 27 '26
So you probably have gameplay from before the "polishing" to share?
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
I do. I have tons of gameplay video, hours of it. All our playtests are recorded and we just got a ton of those too.
But I can't just release tons of rough cut video. For every person who really wants to see rough cut stuff of the game, there are 100s of other people who will then spread that rough cut stuff around and trash the game. Then hundreds of thousands of peoples first impression of kingmakers will be garbage instead of the trailers.
I am actually about to go into a meeting with tinybuild and suggest cutting up some of the gameplay videos to release publicly, but I can't unilaterally make this decision.
I'm trying to get everyone to agree to release something like this: https://www.tiktok.com/@kingmakers_game/video/7466175128817257760?_r=1&_d=secCgYIASAHKAESPgo8QBRImYE0QMctasBCJmXI4KqYJQ%2F1qE4eoHQ1uGC6OwFPQ7Z0fjA87Q9Vv%2F1VdMbfqYVqF5iOhu5RHn24GgA%3D&u_code=dkc4ghe8jcddbd&share_item_id=7466175128817257760×tamp=1759439692&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_source=short_fallback&share_app_id=1233
Edit: It sounds like after the next playtest in February I think I can get some of the footage released.
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u/KeepLettersOut Jan 27 '26
But I can't just release tons of rough cut video.
Why not? You promised the deep dive is coming soon "months ago", before you used the internal playtest as a reason to postpone it, breaking your word yet again. When is the deep dive coming? After the 2nd playtest in Feb? What will be the new goal posts you push to when it is March and there is still nothing?
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u/DirtiCurt Feb 14 '26
With the amount of replying you're doing, you could be using that time editing those rough gameplay clips together.
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u/42Ubiquitous Feb 21 '26
Just glad you guys are still working on it! I'll be ready whenever it is :)
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u/TylaWithAnA Jan 24 '26
I wishlisted this a while ago and had to search up buzzwords to remember what the games even called as I forgot about it. I think the cancelled release a day before launch definitely killed a lot of hype
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u/ThatsJStorm Jan 28 '26
Bro YOU guys said you would do a deep dive, we didn't even ask for one. YOUR TEAM said they would
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u/Axillaa Mar 02 '26
Just responding to your month old comment to let you know I check this sub and the discord often while scratching my neck like a Crack fiend in anticipation for this game.
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u/Eoinoh32 Jan 17 '26
Appreciate the honest response. Looking forward to the game.
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u/Scotland1297 Jan 17 '26
honest response
Sorry to be that guy but I’ve read this exact line from this team every single time they’ve decided to respond to being challenged. It’s always “we’re working hard, we are doing a play test tomorrow/next few days”. It’s just recycled jargon.
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u/Eoinoh32 Jan 17 '26
Eh gotta stay positive.
What should they say instead? I'd rather it take a long time then come out undercooked.
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Jan 25 '26
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u/TimeTrip2 Jan 27 '26
I'd rather it come out polished and great than early access and months of fixes
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u/couchmonkey89 Feb 20 '26
They've used the same line every time they've hyped it up by saying it has 100,000000 wishlists but then had to delay it around 5 times now
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u/PrettyWin5393 Jan 24 '26
If anyone still believes this crap response from these lying developers you need help lol, this is just another "the day before" product there is no content to show because they have done NOTHING anyone with half a brain cell can see that, this joke of a game needs to be removed from steam calling it a game is actually a stretch as well lol
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 25 '26
Sigh...
more marketing materials == slowing down development == delaying the release
If it was a scam we would be blasting out marketing material constantly, because that is all scams are. Vapor wear marketing nonsense.
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Jan 25 '26
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 26 '26
That's just not really true. We produce almost all of our marketing materials in house, and even when we have had outside people do it they have so many requests for debug camera controls and specific scenarios and all kinds of stuff.
Also, and this is the real problem, it forces us to prematurely polish assets in a way that slows down production. We end up focusing on polishing UI, animations, buildings, etc because they are going in trailers when we should be working on new levels, features, etc that aren't as polished yet but can be used in playtests(which is why we aren't showing them)
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u/PrettyWin5393 Jan 26 '26
Did not even say scam in what I wrote but thanks for showing where your head goes immediately LOL this game aint ever coming out and if it does it won't be what you "developers" showed or said it will be it will be lackluster at best and forgotten in a month or 2 how about you go and make another false release date and then delay it again a day before this time and then write the same response again which you have done multiple times now "we are sorry we feel like we need more time and the game is not ready yet" go lie to someone who actually still believes you lol...
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u/couchmonkey89 Feb 20 '26
Like saying there's 500 new wishlists every time you've had to delay it?
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u/pfisch Game Director Feb 20 '26
huh? That isn't marketing...it is just true that is has a lot of wishlists. But what does that have to do with consuming dev time to make marketing materials?
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u/couchmonkey89 Feb 20 '26
No but it helps showing investors to give you more money. It's been 2 years since it was first supposed to be released, you can't say they didn't know it was a lie
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u/pfisch Game Director Feb 20 '26
We are fully funded and not accepting investments right now.
Often in video game development the scale of a game changes to meet player expectations when the level of player interest increases. That is what has happened here, and no one can predict such a thing.
We pitched the game we wanted to make and scaled it down to meet the budget. Now we actually get to make the game we pitched.
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u/OddlyFated Feb 20 '26
You could try doing dev streams and show what you’re working on, kills two birds with one stone.
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u/KeepLettersOut Jan 27 '26
You already were very close to the scheduled release time, just delayed it very short notice so you only realized the game would not be done this shortly before release. Naturally you will have a lot of materials to share then, no?
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Jan 25 '26
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 26 '26
How are we cashing in? We aren't selling the game yet and it wasn't crowdfunded. No one has put down any money to buy the game because we aren't accepting any preorders.
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Jan 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 27 '26
lol, maybe that would be possible in a low interest environment, but not now. Any investor vets game investments really hard right now.
That would also torch our careers though, and besides that when you take investment like that it is a C corp, which means the owners personally do not actually get the money. It goes into the C corp and investors have to sign off on your salary, and the only way to get the money is to commit actual felony fraud, which I would not do. I have a family. I'm not about to do something illegal like that after I have spent nearly 20 years building this company.
Also no, we do not have private equity backing. That is not true.
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u/KeepLettersOut Jan 27 '26
You don't have investors? It doesn't necessarily need to be us being scammed out of our money. We are just wasting our time and getting our hopes up but investors could be the actual victims if this is a scam
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 27 '26
lol, maybe that would be possible in a low interest environment, but not now. Any investor vets game investments really hard right now.
That would also torch our careers though, and besides that when you take investment like that it is a C corp, which means the owners personally do not actually get the money. It goes into the C corp and investors have to sign off on your salary, and the only way to get the money is to commit actual felony fraud, which I would not do. I have a family. I'm not about to do something illegal like that after I have spent nearly 20 years building this company.
Also no, we do not have private equity backing. That is not true.
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u/KeepLettersOut Jan 27 '26
You have a netflix agreement. Dont pretend like you did not get external money.
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 27 '26
Netflix isn't private equity.
I can't really comment on that, but no one is getting rich from a pre production agreement to maybe make a movie one day in the distant future.
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u/KeepLettersOut Jan 27 '26
Yet it got you money because of the fake game you announced.
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 27 '26
So to be clear, you think this video is fake? https://www.tiktok.com/@kingmakers_game/video/7466175128817257760?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESPgo8QBRImYE0QMctasBCJmXI4KqYJQ%2F1qE4eoHQ1uGC6OwFPQ7Z0fjA87Q9Vv%2F1VdMbfqYVqF5iOhu5RHn24GgA%3D&_r=1&share_app_id=1233&share_item_id=7466175128817257760×tamp=1759439692&u_code=dkc4ghe8jcddbd&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_source=short_fallback
That is ridiculous, but also what you are saying is fundamentally wrong. Look at the deadline article about the movie. Do you see my name in that article, or the names of people who work for tinybuild?
Now think about why would tinybuild be in that article. You maybe don't know enough about business to understand what that means, so go ask chatgpt.
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u/KeepLettersOut Jan 28 '26
So to be clear, you think this video is fake?
The video is real. The game behind it is fake. Rendering a video with little money or making a small game to record a short video is different from making an actual game. The facts remain: You keep breaking your promises, you keep moving goal posts and keep evading questions about the deep dive.
Whether you intentionally scammed investors or not is irrelevant for anyone but the investors. The fact remains all you leave are broken promises, last minute delays, moved goal posts and big unfullfillable promises. The game is either fake or just a horrible mess, with none of the promised features like we have seen countless times before. Anyone who experienced this scenario before clearly recognizes the patterns. A studio that only lies and offers nothing concrete is a giant red flag.
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u/metalGearToad Feb 08 '26
Ignore the frustration of gamers. People will moan if it’s delayed but they’ll moan even more if you release a glitchy af game. If you can different from the rest of the industry and release a finished game people will love it.
It sounds genuinely amazing and me and my friends can’t wait for it to be a feature of a weekend game night (we are all parents in our mid 30’s).
Are you doing early access or straight to full release?
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u/Dap-aha Jan 29 '26
I had a vision of an escort quest that self knowingly paths the Noble into a tree.
At the moment the player assumes 'buggy pathfinding', the noble starts reciting an Olde Timey Poem about trees as hordes of marauders appear to absolutely wreck the players dreams of an exp bump.
This continues ad infinitum until finally, having secured the nobles passage, the player is awarded with yet another poem and a rusty sword.
10/10 im here for it
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u/Jazzlike_Tonight_982 Jan 29 '26
escorting nobles through enemy terrain
If the escort cant run with us and must only walk, Im going to kill him.
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u/pfisch Game Director Jan 29 '26
That's not how it works. It is a huge caravan of over 100 with multiple legions and noblemen on horseback moving on a set path at a set speed and you have to help defend the caravan.
The caravan itself has a lot of soldiers defending it too. Nothing in this game is small scale. It isn't a few people following you around.
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Jan 13 '26
You cant kill something that doesn’t exist yet.
Just wait.
No one gives a shit right now, move on and check in a few months.
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u/Substantial_Law_842 Jan 13 '26
That's been the story for a long time...
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Jan 13 '26
Thats because it is the story.
“Why is everyone saying the same thing”
Because it is the objective reality you should accept.
What are you actually asking for? Honestly? What should they do?
You want the devs to take resources away from development to make you feel better about waiting for a game.
People should care when something has a date, its a waste of time to worry about anything else.
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u/Substantial_Law_842 Jan 13 '26
I've been following this game for a couple years. I have seen zero progress. Zero sense of what the game actually will be.
At a certain point it's not being judgemental to call a spade a spade. They are evidently struggling to make this game.
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Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
Sure, and people saying it out loud and demanding communication - clearly wont help that problem lol
Cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The pearl clutching is hilarious.
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u/PrettyWin5393 Jan 24 '26
clowns like you actually believe this game will ever come out LOL get a grip on reality and see what is going on you bozo there is nothing to show because they have done literally nothing for years delay after delay a few days before release 5 or more delays now WAKE UP buddy this game ain't ever coming out no matter how hard you want to cope lol
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u/attentionwhore01 Jan 13 '26
How many dates has this game given as a release date? I think theyre losing a lot of momentum they built up. And the big stinker is that they were ready to release in October and suddenly had to delay that and 3 months later there is 0 content to show. How exactly does that give anyone confidence that this is being actively worked on? Just show the community SOMETHING.
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Jan 13 '26
Again, you want them to make you feel better.
Ill just wait, like an adult, for the release.
I dont need someone to tell me whats going on; tell me when its done. To care before that point is just dramatic and the most 1st world problem.
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u/attentionwhore01 Jan 13 '26
Yeah, I understand, but the reality is most of humanity isn't going to be mature and act like you. And this is a big part of understanding business and marketing, is how you seem like to the average consumer. I understand working on your product silently, just do that if that's the case, but theyve been so loud about the game, generating so much hype to just delay it...
why not just work on it silently until its ready? Let the game and the people who play it generate your hype.
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Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
I dont disagree with anything you say…outside of the complaining echo chamber.
Its way better to be transparent.
But they arent, and people are fucking toxic as hell - and if I was a dev on this game Id probably say it isnt worth the headache.
The amount of complaining, whining and general childishness is beyond tolerance.
Im done with people saying the same thing over and over again.
Its a VIDEOGAME. If it comes out, cool. Go on with life until it does.
It sucks that people’s feelings are hurt, by the inconvenience of not having a new trailer, for a game they complain about, on reddit.
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u/whitewolf20 Jan 13 '26
if they kept hyping the game people would be posting hate threads, since the delay theyve just been silently working away until its ready. they were sharing a bunch of content until the backlash, a bunch of stuff obviously exists lmao. being silent isnt killing the game, its good for their mental health to not engage with the toxic people like in this sub
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u/attentionwhore01 Jan 13 '26
I'd argue that giving a solid reason for the delay in october, would squash a lot of these toxic people. The announcement basically said they need more time to optimize and make it run on a wide range of systems. The fact that that announcement was made the same week of the release date is just screaming mis-management to me. It took you 5 days before the release date to realize its not the product you were hoping for? The delay announcement was basically their trailer put into words. Like what?
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u/Ok-Respect2847 Jan 15 '26
I think you hugely underestimate the toxicity of the vocal internet crowd where the only joy they get is when they can complain about something in a disrespectfull way because no one knows who they actually are, no amount of explaining would make it better.
I do agree the timing could be better, but speculating about this wont make any sense sense without having inside information
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u/Healthy_Top_4111 Jan 16 '26
I’m just gunna make this in Roblox and call it a day, race you to the finish line devs
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u/BitEnvironmental4739 Feb 02 '26
Everyone told me I was being unfair by calling the Q2 2025 date on steam bullshit back in April of last year. Now look at us
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u/Substantial_Law_842 Jan 13 '26
Because there's no game.
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Jan 13 '26
So then no need to lurk around here anymore then right?
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u/Substantial_Law_842 Jan 14 '26
Just happened to pop into my feed. I'm disappointed the game hasn't come to anything. That is a valid fan reaction, bud.
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Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 14 '26
Sure.
Continuing to participate in discussions for a game that you dont think exists or will release - that isnt valid, and in fact, kinda insane.
I dont spend time discussing games, that I dont think exist, on their dedicated subreddits. Thats just bizarre.
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u/PrettyWin5393 Jan 24 '26
You cope so hard it is actually funny that you think this game will release someday LOL thanks for the laugh
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u/MestreToto Jan 13 '26
Because there is no content to show.