The Witcher 2 Pirated "Roughly 4.5 Million" Times, Says Dev

[Sixcess]

Actually...I feel like my math is off somewhere. Based on those numbers...CDP should probably have shut down.

He does say that as of that day they've sold a million, which should, by your figures, put them comfortably into profit.

A million seems like pretty good numbers for a pc-only RPG from an indie studio.* I definitely think these guys have worked out how to make gamer goodwill work for them, and it's great to see.

[sub]*after all, consider Ubisoft complaining about how a pc port of I Am Alive might only sell 50K[/sub]

 

[DirgeNovak]

Well that's what you get for making games for those soulless thieves PC gamers...

Seriously though, I'm taken aback by their attitude towards DRM. That's some of the most progressive thinking I've seen coming from the industry.

When I get a decent computer, I'm definitely buying both Witchers. This kind of talk cannot go unrewarded.

 

[DarkRyter]

You know what CD Projekt? For being such a good sport about this, I'll purchase your game. Even though I have absolutely no desire to play it.

Maybe. If Steam has another sale or something.

 

[Something Amyss]

I would buy Witcher a thousand times over if it was a game I had the slightest interest in. I don't have the slightest interest in it.

Likewise, I'd rather not buy something I have no interest in, but I'd love to throw my money at companies who are not being dicks to their paying customers.

 

[DRes82]

Great game. Difficult game, but still a great game. Good attitude to have towards DRM.

Skyrim proved that piracy does not, in fact, hinder profit gain for companies developing big titles for PC. Stupid Ubisoft.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Of course, this does drive home the point that pirates are still morally devoid douchebags that will steal a game, even from a good developer that is doing their best to get you a great product and DRM free.
I am glad they are sticking by their guns though. Even if they had sizable DRM in the game, I don't think it'd lower those numbers.

 

[Stormz]

Satisfied owner of the Witcher 1 and 2 here. These guys are probably the only gaming company that doesn't hate the consumer. So I tip my hat to them and look forward to whatever they make next.

 

[Faladorian]

Are you listening, UbiSoft?

 

[Vivi22]

I've never had any interest in the Witcher before, or the sequel for that matter, but part of me wants to buy the game just to support them. Hell, I just might when I can spare the cash. That interview read like they've taken every idea I ever had about why DRM is a failure and better ways to elicit sales and ran with them. I have much respect for a company that recognizes DRM for what it is and decides treating their customers with respect is a better bargain for everyone.

 

[DRes82]

Are you listening, UbiSoft?

Quoted for emphasis. Ubisoft thinks that alienating its PC customers won't hurt it. We'll see about that.

 

[2fish]

While I like that they do not force DRMI do not like their undertone. I am happy they see that drm only pisses off the paying customer and many people don't buy games based on DRM.

On a side note everytime I hear of DRM I think of Hadrian's Wall:

 

[AstylahAthrys]

I really hope a good chunk of those pirates ended up enjoying the game enough to buy it, simply because these dudes are being pretty damn cool about the DRM thing. I just might have to go buy this game now.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Actually...I feel like my math is off somewhere. Based on those numbers...CDP should probably have shut down.

He does say that as of that day they've sold a million, which should, by your figures, put them comfortably into profit.

A million seems like pretty good numbers for a pc-only RPG from an indie studio.* I definitely think these guys have worked out how to make gamer goodwill work for them, and it's great to see.

[sub]*after all, consider Ubisoft complaining about how a pc port of I Am Alive might only sell 50K[/sub]

Alright.

1,000,000 x 170 = 170,000,000 zlotys.

Now my math is going to get super shakey because I'm going to be basing it all off assumptions from this point forward. Microsoft takes 30% off each sale made on Xbox Live, and I've heard that VALVe is better about that. Rumors put it at around 20%. However, since those are rumors and Tripwire only said 'It's in line with what other digital distributors charge', I'm going to use 25% as a placeholder. Since the comment was 'It's in line with what other digital distributors charge', I'm going to assume Gamersgate/Direct2whatever whatever whatever all do 25% as well.

250,000 x 170 / 4 = 10,625,000

170,000,000 - 112,625,000 = 57,375,000

Now we go into 'OhmygodIhavenoideawhatImsaying' territory. From what Google has revealed to me, non-AAA games advertisement costs range from 5000 to 500,000 USD. 170,165 zlotys it is!

57,204,835 zlotys of profit, provided that I haven't forgotten any costs. Approximately. And that's...16,808,600 USD and 10,771,287 GBP.

Hm...that number seems too high for some reason. Probably forgot some kind of costs somewhere. Well...meh. I can't be assed to do all that math again. I hate math.

So with this, Team Rocket is blasting off again. Or something.

Edit: I forgot to take off Microsoft's share from the 750,000 sales on the X360. But...I'm too lazy to do more math.

 

[babinro]

I wish to be a total jerk in this post and ask those who defend piracy to explain what they did wrong with The Witcher 2?

As I understand it was a AAA title with non-intrusive DRM at a reasonable $50 price tag (recently half that price on steam) and was given fantastic reviews. It's also not a copy of every other game out there making it unique and tailored to the hardcore crowd. These reasons seem to cover most of the common reasons why people claim to pirate a game.

I still firmly believe that with very few exceptions, piracy comes entirely down to price. The game could probably have sold for $10 new on day one and would likely have close to $4 million illegal downloads just the same.

I conclude my jerk post by saying that it's sad to see this non-major developer lose so much revenue that would have otherwise gone to making their already great games even better.

 

[Richardplex]

Satisfied owner of the Witcher 1 and 2 here. These guys are probably the only gaming company that doesn't hate the consumer. So I tip my hat to them and look forward to whatever they make next.

*points at the recent Gabe Newell interview* *points to Bethesda and the creation kit they release for free* ...No, there are others. Gems among the crowd, but definitely there.

 

[Shydrow]

i refuse to pirate this game under any reason. Just cause if i wanna play it i will buy it or play it at a friends.

 

[omicron1]

What this does, more than anything, is separate the wheat from the chaff.
The Witcher 2 is one of the most well-known, and well-liked among fans of its genre, games in recent memory. Probably the entire potential audience knew about the game, and probably a good portion of them acquired it.
Now, I do think that the pirating numbers are grossly inflated. For one thing, chances are a large number of the pirates are in different countries (EG Russia), where not only is piracy the norm (thus inflating the overall buyers-versus-takers ratio) but also very few people have a net connection fast enough to download a 13-gb game in six hours. One day or more would be a significantly more accurate estimate - a change which in and of itself quarters the original estimate.

So we've already cut the number of pirates to a quarter of the original figure. This puts pirates and buyers at somewhere between equal numbers and 2-to-1 in favor of pirates, of which one has to assume at least half are foreign downloaders (and thereby discounted from consideration due to cultural norms). Let's say, therefore, that slightly more Western-civilization users pirated than bought it.

Of those, how many would possibly have been sales? Well, The Witcher 2 was somewhat of a touchstone both for fans of RPGs and for fans of fair business practices. Anyone with an interest in the game would have had good reason to support both it and its developer. Therefore, I think that probably upwards of 75% of those who would have bought the game for any price, bought it.

This evaluation could, of course, be completely invalidated if I learned that, say, all (or even most) of those downloaders were from Western societies. I simply doubt that this is the case.

 

[Micalas]

How is it pirating if it's legally offered for free? How many of those people that downloaded it for free would have pirated it if it weren't the legal route? You really skew the numbers when you say, "You can have it for free (legally)...we'd like to get paid, but whatevs."

 

[Kopikatsu]

How is it pirating if it's legally offered for free? How many of those people that downloaded it for free would have pirated it if it weren't the legal route? You really skew the numbers when you say, "You can have it for free (legally)...we'd like to get paid, but whatevs."

When was it offered for free?

Not having DRM doesn't mean it was offered for free.