Witcher 2 Dev Defends Asking €1000 From Pirates

[Guardian of Nekops]

Uh. You can demand only 3 times the software's worth on the current market.

$120 per game is at most what they can get.

Not more.

According to the law in Germany?

You figure they've got to AT LEAST get their court costs paid by the offender in addition to that... enforcing your rights in court costs money. Otherwise they'd go bankrupt even by winning every case, and I refuse to believe that a legal system would be set up that way.

 

[Epona]

They are squandering the good will they have gained for themselves.

How, pray tell?

I see NOTHING wrong with that. CD Projekt have bent to the will of gamers, offering the game with no DRM for a cheaper price than other AAA games, and the gamers respond by pirating the shit out of it. I don't give a rip if "But some pirates are repeat-downloading"! THERE'S STILL EASILY TWO MILLION SEPARATE ILLEGAL COPIES OUT THERE.

TWO.

MILLION.

AT LEAST.

If anything, I've lost any and all sympathy that pirates had desperately tried to garner from me. They are NOT crusaders out defending the consumer, they're just incredibly greedy over-entitled freeloaders that I'm ashamed to share a species with. I hope and pray that CD Projekt win every. Single. Case. That they've sent out.

This move is similar to what the record companies did, it bring them down a notch or two. What's the point of taking off the DRM if you are just going to turn around and ask for 20 times the price of the game from pirates? The only thing that keeps them above the nastiness of the record companies is that they aren't actually suing, yet.

The reason I didn't support the record companies is because they were asking for millions/billions of dollars. $1300 is not life-ruining, it's a really hard wrist-slap.

Well whatever, I don't support either.

 

[Mike Kayatta]

I'm not sure how the exact amount being requested as recompense was arrived at, nor do I know exactly why only Germany has thus far been the only battlefront (in 2001 it was the UK during a similar strategy taken for Witcher 1),

Witcher 1 didn't come out till like 2007, so that makes them time-travellers.

That was a typo. It's fixed now. Should have read: "2008"

 

[Aeshi]

I wish them luck but on the Internet doing anything to Pirates other than mindlessly worshiping them because they're "oposing teh mahn" is basically the equivalent of wearing a "I believe in Terrorism/Genocide (and also I am cool to bash)" T-Shirt

 

[thespyisdead]

the best solution would then have to be console exclusivety, a step which you PC players will not hear of

 

[Zachery Gaskins]

I wish them luck but on the Internet doing anything to Pirates other than mindlessly worshiping them because they're "oposing teh mahn" is basically the equivalent of wearing a "I believe in Terrorism/Genocide (and also I am cool to bash)" T-Shirt

That's no reason to give up on trying to make the Internet a place where justice can actually exist.

Pirates are a bunch of maladjusted entitlement-bound douchefucks who think they're doing the "people" a favor by fighting the "evil corporations" like it's somehow comparable to Occupy Wall Street or something. They only give a shit when it's their actual physical ass on the line. So let's grant them their wish.

 

[Zachery Gaskins]

the best solution would then have to be console exclusivety, a step which you PC players will not hear of

When I can get PC-quality performance and game-complexity on a console that easily upgrades to meet the rising standards, and when publishers stop trying to sell to mass-market sensibilities via those consoles, then I'll hear of it. Sadly, PC gamers are the "large, but not nearly vocal enough minority".

Also, to think console piracy doesn't exist or isn't a significant-enough problem to not go on the public record and officially care about, is a bit short-sighted. *shrug*

 

[lacktheknack]

the best solution would then have to be console exclusivety, a step which you PC players will not hear of

Of course not.

And besides, it's misguided. Consoles have a low piracy rate, why would you want to bring them over?

 

[Micalas]

I wish them luck but on the Internet doing anything to Pirates other than mindlessly worshiping them because they're "oposing teh mahn" is basically the equivalent of wearing a "I believe in Terrorism/Genocide (and also I am cool to bash)" T-Shirt

I believe in terrorism/genocide. I believe it exists.

 

[Valanthe]

been said by many above, but I support CDProjekt in this. I don't actually have a whole lot against DRM in principle, but it's a nuisance, and in far too many cases, very poorly implemented, so if any company says they are trying to find an alternative, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

That said, that price is -very- steep, I think $100 would have been a more reasonable amount, but who am I to judge, I'm not the one suffering from lost sales.

 

[Epona]

They are squandering the good will they have gained for themselves.

Good will from who? The pirates? I'm sure they're all choked up about that.

The problem with fighting piracy is that you can't win and you will ultimately become like EA or Ubisoft. Ignore the pirates, that is the only way.

It sounds like a pathetic solution and it is but if you can't beat the pirates, why are you wasting money, time and the good will of honest customers? Honest customers look down on heavy handed tactics like this.

I don't know what else to say on this matter.

 

[kyogen]

They haven't squandered any of my good will. I purchased several legal copies of their games, and I'm behind them on this. Go after pirates; don't punish customers.

 

[Epona]

They are squandering the good will they have gained for themselves.

Good will from who? The pirates? I'm sure they're all choked up about that.

The problem with fighting piracy is that you can't win and you will ultimately become like EA or Ubisoft. Ignore the pirates, that is the only way.

It sounds like a pathetic solution and it is but if you can't beat the pirates, why are you wasting money, time and the good will of honest customers? Honest customers look down on heavy handed tactics like this.

I don't know what else to say on this matter.

You honestly think legit customers who were willing to pay for the game to support the company will look down on them for going after the douchebags who don't care if the company can't make enough money to make another game? Really?

Yes I do. Heavy handed tactics just result in more heavy handed tactics until CDPR becomes just like every other publisher.

People who buy music were still disgusted by the heavy handedness of the music industry.

 

[theriddlen]

Well, 1000 euro is reasonable - remember how much RIAA wants from people. Witcher dev is being humane right here - they don't want a show trial, but only justice.

It's a tricky one. On one hand, yes, DRM probably is bad and does often punish the honest buyers.

But when there's no DRM at all on your game, it's inevitably going to be pirated. The DLC and stuff is surely DRM-free as well, so that'll just be pirated in as well.

It seems to me that CD Projekt had this "no-DRM" idea, then when they realised that they were losing literally MILLIONS of dollars, suddenly they need to start threatening people. I'm not saying that DRM is good by any means, but I think this specific approach is a tad short sighted.

I's a nice theory but CD Projekt announced that they will do this before Witcher 2 came out

 

[godofallu]

On the one hand there is now 1 more company frantically suing pirates.

On the other hand the usual amount asked is tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. I could get hit with a 1300 dollar fine and survive it easily. If I got hit with a 200,000 fine I would go under and since I am a dependent on my parents healthcare they would have to pay what I can't. If I made my parents go broke I would literally have to kill myself.

So yeah the reason I don't mind this is CDred's penalty for pirating a game 1 time is 1300 dollars. The music industry will force you to kill yourself.

 

[Jamash]

It seems to me that CD Projekt had this "no-DRM" idea, then when they realised that they were losing literally MILLIONS of dollars, suddenly they need to start threatening people. I'm not saying that DRM is good by any means, but I think this specific approach is a tad short sighted.

That's an incorrect observation.

It has always been CDProjekt's intention to pursue legal action against anyone who pirated their DRM free game, they even publicly announced this intention more than a year ago:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105521-CD-Projekt-Plans-to-Make-Witcher-2-Pirates-Sorry

It's not a short-sighted knee-jerk reaction to a sudden unexpected consequence of their DRM policy, it's just them making good on their long term plan.

Anyone who finds themselves facing legal action because they pirated The Witcher 2 only has themselves to blame, they were fairly warned long before the game was released.

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

It seems to me that CD Projekt had this "no-DRM" idea, then when they realised that they were losing literally MILLIONS of dollars, suddenly they need to start threatening people. I'm not saying that DRM is good by any means, but I think this specific approach is a tad short sighted.

That's an incorrect observation.

It has always been CDProjekt's intention to pursue legal action against anyone who pirated their DRM free game, they even publicly announced this intention more than a year ago:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105521-CD-Projekt-Plans-to-Make-Witcher-2-Pirates-Sorry

It's not a short-sighted knee-jerk reaction to a sudden unexpected consequence of their DRM policy, it's just them making good on their long term plan.

Anyone who finds themselves facing legal action because they pirated The Witcher 2 only has themselves to blame, they were fairly warned long before the game was released.

Okay, fair game to that, I wasn't aware of it.

However, I can't help feeling that the cost of all those legal fees, on top of the loss they've made when 80% of their audience didn't pay for their game must be massive. It's a tough time not having DRM if you are a dev I suppose.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I thought that these charges were going out to people who had been confirmed as pirates. The ones that got caught should pay the fine.