"Blame the French" Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Responds to Game Awards Loss

When Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was released in February 2025, many heralded it as an early Game of the Year contender at The Game Awards, but in a twist of events, Warhorse Studios' sequel didn't manage to pick up a single win. Instead, as many expected out of The Game Awards, Expedition 33 swept up most of its nominations.
To note, KCD2 had a total of three nominations. It was nominated for Game of the Year, the most prestigious award at the TGA, as well as Best Narrative and Best RPG. It's worth noting that, in each category, it lost to Expedition 33. This may have prompted the studio's social media response to this loss, which is already drawing a mixed response online.
At first, the official Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 social media account posted an image of the "this is fine" dog from the iconic meme, where the house is on fire. As that wasn't enough, it followed up with another post showing three dialogue options: "It's Not My Fault," "Blame the French," and Say Nothing. The image highlights the "Blame the French" text, which is the company obviously throwing shade at Expedition 33. However, it does seem the company means this in a lighthearted sense (as opposed to when Black Myth Wukong's developer criticized The Game Awards for its loss, despite the similar situations).
After posting the meme image, the studio followed up with a "double oopsies" reference to its first two losses. And after that, on the "Blame the French" image, Warhorse thanked and shared its appreciation for fans, while telling everyone to stay kind. Reactions to the loss have and will likely vary, and this post is like an attempt to avoid any Game Awards controversies around KCD2 and/or Expedition 33. The good news, of course, is that plenty of fans consider it their personal GOTY, and while that isn't as fancy as a trophy, it's still worth celebrating.
Meanwhile, Expedition 33 won 9 out of its 12 total nominations. Those include, but are not obviously limited to, Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Independent Game, and Best RPG. The Game Awards attendees and viewers saw a lot of Sandfall during the showcase, but it did come with its own special thank you too. Expedition 33 dropped a new update that includes the following:
Ultimately, what happens at The Game Awards matters. It's understandable to be upset when a game you love loses out on its deserved accolades, and there's no doubt that KCD2 is deserving of all the praise it has received all years. It's just a natural result of the competition. Similarly, for example, Death Stranding 2 received 7 nominations at The Game Awards 2025—more than Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2—and it also went home without a single trophy.
Expedition 33 just made its mark on the industry this year, and other games could put up a good fight. The good news is that every single one of these developers put out some of their best work this year, and in many ways, it can be seen as a challenge to all the games coming out in 2026 and beyond. Fans got a glimpse at some of them, but there's sure to be surprises at future events. Some fans are still waiting for that Half-Life 3 announcement, after all.