Cuckdom C*m 2: Deliverance cucks Polygone from getting a review copy. ensues

The embargo for reviews of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has lifted. We don't have a review on the site here at Polygon. This is not an editorial decision; we had hoped to review the game. On Jan. 2, Polygon requested a code for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 from Warhorse Studios, the studio behind the game, and received no response. On Jan. 7, we reached out to the PR firm working with Warhorse, who told us they were "not able to provide access. We'll let you know if this changes." We reached out to parent company Plaion on Jan. 9 as well — no response. On Jan. 10, we saw our peers publishing early previews for the game. We re-upped our request and were again told we would not be given access.

This was very unusual. But this was the situation that transpired with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. It can be difficult to tell when a studio's decision to withhold a code from a publication is intentional and personal. That's due in part to the fact that the process for getting advance review codes is about as rote and administrative as it gets. Sometimes, PR firms working for studios send us codes unsolicited in hopes we'll cover the game in question. Other times, we request codes from the game's representatives ourselves, several weeks ahead of the release date, and we get those codes when and if they are available.

As part of our final request for code on Jan. 10, Polygon's editor-in-chief Chris Plante contacted Plaion and Warhorse's PR firm to get a comment as to why we were denied advance access to the game. He stressed in his message that our hope is that this decision wasn't due to any personal bias against Polygon, nor motivated by any of our previous coverage of games made by Warhorse or any other. In short, we wanted to know: Was Polygon being blacklisted?

On Jan. 10, we did receive a response to this request stating that we could get one code for the game on launch day, Feb. 4. We did not receive any clarification as to how this decision was made. Nor did we receive the requested clarification on why the developers of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 declined to provide Polygon access to the game.

Because we will not receive access to this game until its public release, our review is nonetheless forthcoming but will not be published in time for its release date. We look forward to telling you more about this game in the weeks to come.

KIA Gloats

And now, for the why. From Charlie Hall's review (12 February 2018)

https://archive.is/WqcZl

"The game is also not without its controversies. Warhorse is a team of more than 150 people, but the game's creative director has gone out of his way to rationalize his support of G*merGate, a loosely knit hate group that has devoted time to harassing women, people of color and journ*lists in the past. So outspoken is the studio's leadership on cultural issues that they have found it necessary to work with a German outlet to publish anti-fascist, anti-sexist and anti-racist statements prior to their game's launch."

Thank you for that completely unnecessary bank-shot that turned a poor review into a politically motivated hit piece. And you wonder why they weren't lining up for more of that?

https://old.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1igwh0w/polygon_whines_about_not_getting_prerelease_code/

!g*mers !chuds @kaamrev its G*MER GATE REVENGE TIME!