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
View : : :
29.
 
Re: CD Projekt RED Ceasing Witcher 2 Piracy Witch Hunt
Jan 12, 2012, 19:39
29.
Re: CD Projekt RED Ceasing Witcher 2 Piracy Witch Hunt Jan 12, 2012, 19:39
Jan 12, 2012, 19:39
 
Prez wrote on Jan 12, 2012, 19:19:
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.

And if they could provide proof they purchased the game legitimately I'm sure the charges would be dropped as CD Projekt seems reasonable that way.

Still doesn't change that they broke the law, stole or helped to distribute the software. Using "I was broke at the time" isn't an excuse. Just like using the defense "I was drunk" doesn't mean squat if you broke the law while intoxicated.

Your anger is directed towards people who just take things they want for free without ever paying for them

What anger? I'm not angry, this ultimately doesn't effect me in any way other than the potential longer term ramifications to the industry as a whole. Or, it could maybe mean CDP's next game won't have any DRM free options. I just disagree that CDP should be in turn bullied by what were probably mostly people that never even bought the game.

The angry people were the ones crying foul on CD Projekt and applying worst case scenarios (ie: RIAA bullying) to CDP over this.

Given that CD Projekt is a small studio with relatively niche appeal

This probably had more to do with stopping their current course of action more than anything. They didn't want to risk their name, GoG's name and Witcher franchise name being sullied by the spread of misinformation and hate over them defending their property. Because that was what happened when the news story broke, a whole lot of flaming bullshit from people that had very little info and made up the rest to suit their agenda.

In the end, companies need to defend their properties and do what they can to thwart piracy. If they don't use DRM and the public trashes them for doing it using other legal channels, that's a shame on the people, not the company.

Date
Subject
Author
19.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
24.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
27.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
28.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
 29.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
        Re: CD Projekt RED Ceasing Witcher 2 Piracy Witch Hunt
32.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
35.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
37.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
38.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
30.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
21.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
23.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
26.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
33.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
39.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
40.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
41.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
42.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
46.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
47.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
48.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
49.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
51.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
45.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012
31.
Jan 12, 2012Jan 12 2012
43.
Jan 13, 2012Jan 13 2012