CD Projekt RED Ceasing Witcher 2 Piracy Witch Hunt

CD Projekt announces it is now the official distributor for Codemasters in Poland. On a slightly related note, Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a statement from CD Projekt RED saying they are ceasing the recently revealed process of directly contacting file-sharers they suspect of pirating The Witcher 2, in spite of their confidence in the infallibility of such accusations. While continuing to decry piracy, this open letter from CD Projekt RED co-founder Marcin Iwinski says they have heard gamer's concerns, and that these direct contacts will cease immediately:
An Open Letter to the Gaming Community from CD Projekt RED

In early December, an article was published about a law firm acting on behalf of CD Projekt RED, contacting individuals who had downloaded The Witcher 2 illegally and seeking financial compensation for copyright infringement. The news about our decision to combat piracy directly, instead of with DRM, spread quickly and with it came a number of concerns from the community. Repeatedly, gamers just like you have said that our methods might wrongly accuse people who have never violated our copyright and expressed serious concern about our actions.

Being part of a community is a give-and-take process. We only succeed because you have faith in us, and we have worked hard over the years to build up that trust. We were sorry to see that many gamers felt that our actions didn’t respect the faith that they have put into CD Projekt RED. Our fans always have been and remain our greatest concern, and we pride ourselves on the fact that you all know that we listen to you and take your opinions to heart. While we are confident that no one who legally owns one of our games has been required to compensate us for copyright infringement, we value our fans, our supporters, and our community too highly to take the chance that we might ever falsely accuse even one individual.

So we’ve decided that we will immediately cease identifying and contacting pirates.

Let’s make this clear: we don’t support piracy. It hurts us, the developers. It hurts the industry as a whole. Though we are staunch opponents of DRM because we don’t believe it has any effect on reducing piracy, we still do not condone copying games illegally. We’re doing our part to keep our relationship with you, our gaming audience, a positive one. We’ve heard your concerns, listened to your voices, and we’re responding to them. But you need to help us and do your part: don’t be indifferent to piracy. If you see a friend playing an illegal copy of a game–any game–tell your friend that they’re undermining the possible success of the developer who created the very game that they are enjoying. Unless you support the developers who make the games you play, unless you pay for those games, we won’t be able to produce new excellent titles for you.

Keep on playing,

Marcin Iwinski
co-founder
CD Projekt RED
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27.
 
Re: CD Projekt RED Ceasing Witcher 2 Piracy Witch Hunt
Jan 12, 2012, 19:19
Prez
 
27.
Re: CD Projekt RED Ceasing Witcher 2 Piracy Witch Hunt Jan 12, 2012, 19:19
Jan 12, 2012, 19:19
 Prez
 
They aren't suing their fanbase. They were suing people that stole or were contributing to the theft of their game. Those aren't fans.

I can tell you from experience that some of them are, so yes they are, at least in part, suing their fanbase. For example, a fan who can't wait until payday to play the game he's been dying to play is still a fan, albeit an impatient one. The two categories of pirates and fans are not mutually exclusive. I know this for a fact since I straddled both groups for years. A fan who downloads the game to see if it will run on their machine (there was no demo) then buys the game once he is sure it will work is still a fan.

Your anger is directed towards people who just take things they want for free without ever paying for them, and I share that anger to a point, but even some of these people can be nudged to become customers. Not all, maybe not many, but some. I've seen it happen. Given that CD Projekt is a small studio with relatively niche appeal (though that changes with each outstanding release), I doubt they want to drive away people through draconian litigious efforts who could otherwise be nudged to being customers, or worse, wrongfully accuse a paying customer and lose him or her altogether.

Even if their method of identifying pirates was 100% fool-proof, and they dropped action against people who could show that they purchased the game after downloading (which they were allegedly doing, though I haven't seen it confirmed), I would still be 100% opposed to this method of dealing with pirates. It simply does not work, and is proven to be counterproductive. The announcement that they were doing this floored me, and dented my respect for them, but true to the excellence of the studio, they have done the right thing in light of the concerns of their fans, and I'm back to a full-on CD Projekt love fest.

And if it makes you feel any better, I have bought 6 copies of the game in total (5 as gifts), so at least the negative effects of 5 pirates has been negated.

This comment was edited on Jan 12, 2012, 19:24.
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