CD Projekt Does Witcher 2 DLC Right, Makes It All Free

[Worgen]

The GameStop Facebook page recently held a public Q&A with the developers of Witcher 2 where fans asked how they'd be handling DLC. The reply was: "Let me announce that all our DLCs will be FREE. All of them. If anything will be for purchase, those will be expansion packs."

What, pray tell, is the difference between DLC and an expansion pack? Surely in a single player RPG they're one and the same thing?

Or is it just a difference in size or something?

dlc tends to be a very minor amount of content, an expansion tends to be another full games worth of content, maybe a bit less but for the most part its another game

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

I'm going to buy The Wither 2 brand new. I wasn't interested in the game, but who knows, maybe I just need to try something new. The real reason I'll be doing it is because hopefully enough people will also buy it new so that other companies will realize that treating customers with respect like this is miles ahead of what they're doing. Hell, if I have enough money freed up, I'll buy two, and give one to a friend.

 

[Bobbity]

I'm going to get this just to thank them now.

Well, that, and that I've been looking for a decent fantasy RPG for ages, and other than LA Noire, there's really nothing out till November. Does anyone know if the control scheme has been simplified though? That put me off its predecessor.

 

[-Seraph-]

I'm going to get this just to thank them now.

Well, that, and that I've been looking for a decent fantasy RPG for ages, and other than LA Noire, there's really nothing out till November. Does anyone know if the control scheme has been simplified though? That put me off its predecessor.

Well I dunno if it's been simplified (honestly, the original game wasn't THAT complicated), but the game has been optimized to use both keyboard & mouse and is compatible with the 360 controller (or hopefully other types of game controllers). So it stands to reason that if it can work well with a game controller without compromising any of the depth and complexity, that it may be a little more accessible.

 

[Hitman Dread]

DLC can be anything from a few new quests/items or new outfits for the players.A expansion pack is like 15 to 20+ hours of new content.See how you should charge for one and not the other?

Except you wouldn't get those few new whatever in most cases if corporations didn't feel they could achieve additional revenue off of it, and wouldn't bother to spend the human resources on it.

 

[Trolldor]

They did say that "expansion packs" wouldn't be free. Could mean that only really small, piddly DLC is free and everything that adds much of anything, like Point Lookout for Fallout 3 or Shadow Broker for ME2, would be "expansion packs" and still not free.

It means we won't be paying for "Horse Armor" but we will be paying for 'Shivering Isles'.

I can live with that.

 

[OManoghue]

There was also problems with Storage, TF2 has roughly 10 GB of extra shit. That's a huge amount of bandwidth on the XBL network that Microsoft wont see a dime of. So it wasn't released, as far as Dragon Age DLC goes, I loved the first and don't regret getting the DLCs I wanted (not all) and then they were consumed by EA and I've posted on this website enough about how far downhill BioWare has gone. Starting with DA2, and now worrying all us fanboys with news on ME3.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I'm going to get this just to thank them now.

Well, that, and that I've been looking for a decent fantasy RPG for ages, and other than LA Noire, there's really nothing out till November. Does anyone know if the control scheme has been simplified though? That put me off its predecessor.

Yes it has in fact been simplified by a whole lot.No more waiting to click at the right time to continue the combo.

Now you have light attack/heavy attack,which you can switch around at your leisure.You can also throw a sign in there to continue the combo or to "debuff" enemies(lighting them on fire with Igni or electrocuting them with a Quen shield,that sort of stuff).

I've watched every gameplay movie that was released to this day and the combat really looks and feels solid and fluid.

 

[Bobbity]

I'm going to get this just to thank them now.

Well, that, and that I've been looking for a decent fantasy RPG for ages, and other than LA Noire, there's really nothing out till November. Does anyone know if the control scheme has been simplified though? That put me off its predecessor.

Yes it has in fact been simplified by a whole lot.No more waiting to click at the right time to continue the combo.

Now you have light attack/heavy attack,which you can switch around at your leisure.You can also throw a sign in there to continue the combo or to "debuff" enemies(lighting them on fire with Igni or electrocuting them with a Quen shield,that sort of stuff).

I've watched every gameplay movie that was released to this day and the combat really looks and feels solid and fluid.

Sweet! This game is looking better and better, and what you've said has pretty much sealed the deal for me.
[sub]Now I just need a new and bloody expensive graphics card. :S[/sub]

 

[theultimateend]

Not that Im not happy about this, but if the release day DLCs free, then why isnt it just in the game?

They may have not had it done for printing of the discs and then got it finished before release. So now they are releasing it on Day 1 as a download.

I'll take a day one content patch over 10 dollar day 1 DLC anytime .

I bought both Witcher 1 and 2 on GOG.com.

The irony? The first time I played Witcher 1 I didn't really like it, but I'm told the complete version is great.

I support their cause enough to give them the benefit of the doubt. I've hated games only to come back to them later and like them. We'll see if this pans out that way .

They did say that "expansion packs" wouldn't be free. Could mean that only really small, piddly DLC is free and everything that adds much of anything, like Point Lookout for Fallout 3 or Shadow Broker for ME2, would be "expansion packs" and still not free.

It means we won't be paying for "Horse Armor" but we will be paying for 'Shivering Isles'.

I can live with that.

Shivering Isles was a great purchase.

So I'm with you on that notion.

 

[danhere]

They're really taking a gamble with everything, but there's not use denying that this is a HUGE PR stunt as well. Their philosophy on game-making is almost populist. From everything I know, they earned a lot of brownie points for that. For them, I honestly hope it works out. My problem is that I won't play this game unless I beat Witcher 1, and that game really isn't too attractive at many points for me. However, I may grind through it just to buy Witcher 2. They're ambitious, and that's definitely worth supporting.

I really think (and hope) that this game will actually be bought more than pirated, both for their sake and in order to validate the beliefs real gamers hold in high regard (unlike those guys who pirated Crysis 2 a full month before its release).

 

[AsurasFinest]

i wasn't planning on getting The Witcher 2 since the 1st one didn't really leave a huge impact on me. but seeing how truely awesome these guys are handling there product i will Deffinatly buy a copy.

CD Projekt are a class act in an increasingly scummy buisness. I hope this shows the rest of the devs how things should be done.

Yes, because charging people for content that you create is clearly incredibly scummy.
God forbid they continue to charge people for games!

You go right on ahead paying 15 dollars for 4 maps in every COD, skins and weapons which should be free. In the meantime I'll sit over here with games that give me free stuff which enhance the game in the same way and enjoy not having to spend money on crap that shouldnt cost anything

 

[Radeonx]

i wasn't planning on getting The Witcher 2 since the 1st one didn't really leave a huge impact on me. but seeing how truely awesome these guys are handling there product i will Deffinatly buy a copy.

CD Projekt are a class act in an increasingly scummy buisness. I hope this shows the rest of the devs how things should be done.

Yes, because charging people for content that you create is clearly incredibly scummy.
God forbid they continue to charge people for games!

You go right on ahead paying 15 dollars for 4 maps in every COD, skins and weapons which should be free. In the meantime I'll sit over here with games that give me free stuff which enhance the game in the same way and enjoy not having to spend money on crap that shouldnt cost anything

I'm not saying that free DLC is bad, I'm saying that acting as if paid DLC is evil and douchey is stupid.
The people who make it deserve to get compensated, and sure, some of the stuff is overpriced, but that's the market's fault for eating every COD map pack up, not the creators.

 

[snfonseka]

Your move Bioware.........

Actually, it is "Your move EA"... anyway we are not going to see that move.

 

[snfonseka]

Goddamnit! Why can't we have this on xbox.

They said there will be.... so be patient.

 

[WilliamRLBaker]

Doing dlc right? um no there is a big difference between choosing to make it free and having to make it free...In this instance a PC developer has to make it free cause pc user won't pay for dlc, online functionality...or you know actually pay for pc games...

 

[Jaeger_CDN]

It's this attitude as well as the removal of the geo-IP ID for GOG purchasers that truely show what a developer, who has gamers at heart, can do.

I initially pre-ordered TW2 from GOG directly because of their no DRM stance, then when the Aussie classification board (as well as Namco Bandai) screwed people in New Zealand with the aussie censored version and GOG stepped up to 'fix' that (alot of people from Aussie/NZ suddenly on 'vacation' to purchase their games) it showed what a developer who understands modern gamers can do to endear them. It also reinforced that I made the right decision on pre-ordering through GOG rather than steam.

CDPR may not have a ton of games out there but hopefully the goodwill that they've generated on their decisions will fix that.