Developer of The Witcher 2 plans to hunt pirates

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Pirates may want to think twice about torrenting The Witcher 2 when it arrives next May. CD Projekt is fed up with illegal file sharers and already plans to pursue folks that download illegitimate copies of the forthcoming RPG. The developer has hired a legal firm and "torrent sneaking companies" to hunt pirates. Those caught downloading illicit versions of the game could receive a letter demanding they pay a fine or face legal repercussions.

The company didn't mention how much it'd expect gamers pay for torrenting copies of The Witcher 2. However, CD Projekt says it doesn't want to be as harsh as outfits in the US that use a similar approach to attack pirates -- presumably referring to the US Copyright Group, which represents various small-time films, including The Hurt Locker and Far Cry. That particular firm often demands pirates shell out between $1,500 and $2,500.

It's worth noting that while many PC games now ship with some type of online authentication, The Witcher 2 is a DRM-free offline single player game making it particularly easy for pirates to download and get the full experience free of charge. This compares to say, StarCraft II, which recently set a piracy record for total data downloaded (15.77PB), but requires a constant connection to Battle.net to access achievements and multiplayer.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/41266-developer-of-the-witcher-2-plans-to-hunt-pirates.html

 

[lawfer]

I admit, I lol'ed.

 

[dustin_ds3000]

i will be pre ordering this game on steam this weekend.

 

[Steve]

Yeah they should have focused their efforts on the game and not chasing people that were never going to pay for it anyway. Hope they didn't spend much on their legal team as I don't think there scary letters are going to bring home the dough.

 

[Guest]

As long as they don't want an unfair ammount of money they are in their right.

 

[princeton]

[-Steve-] said:
Yeah they should have focused their efforts on the game and not chasing people that were never going to pay for it anyway. Hope they didn't spend much on their legal team as I don't think there scary letters are going to bring home the dough.

Thank god steve. Unlike someone named tomSEA you understand that most pirates would never buy it in the first place and that effort should be focused on the game instead.

 

[gwailo247]

Considering the availability, say nothing of cost, of software in Poland when these guys were growing up, I'd be willing to bet they copied a few disks between themselves.

 

[fwilliams]

I do not understand why they do not use serial numbers for the software tied to some random user information they enter when they install the product. That way if multiple serial codes are used at the same time only the one that knows the information could use it. If the serial number database does not contain some random user information it is not an active and will not work. Another way to prove your the owner is that when you are sent the serial number you will also be sent a 5 character string 5 containing an alpha numeric code in a separate email.

 

[DokkRokken]

First, people say one of the reasons they pirate software is because they oppose DRM. So a developer decides (rightly) that DRM is nasty stuff, and yet those same people will just pirate it anyways. Pirates are cheapskates; they just make up 'moral' excuses for their wanting something for nothing.

That's why CD Projekt is wasting time and resources on going after the freeloaders. This is probably more a publicity move than anything else. And as mentioned above, I'm sure these guys have creatively 'borrowed' software too. I'll likely be buying the game after it debuts, and am happy that I won't have to worry about any DRM nannying me.

 

[TomSEA]

"Unlike someone named tomSEA you understand that most pirates would never buy it in the first place..."

That is the single most pathetic, childish and selfish excuse to steal there is. Congratulations on showing your true colors.

 

[dustin_ds3000]

TomSEA said:
"Unlike someone named tomSEA you understand that most pirates would never buy it in the first place..."

That is the single most pathetic, childish and selfish excuse to steal there is. Congratulations on showing your true colors.

Well TomSEA i can say i that i torrent every game that i think i will like and then i buy most of them, here is my steam games http://steamcommunity.com/id/dustin_ds3000/games?tab=all

before i had the money to buy these games i would just torrent them.

 

[TomSEA]

Oh, so you're a hero for stealing them first and MAYBE paying for them later? Let's see your list of games you stole and NEVER paid for dustin...

 

[dustin_ds3000]

spore, just because it had DRM
need for speed shift
Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is on my list to get
Need for Speed™ Undercover, which is on my list to get
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II, which i will buy when its on steam
Lost Planet 1

im sure there is more

I do own two copies of Mass Effect 2, Dragon age, Oblivion, Assassin's Creed 1.

 

[Guest]

"Thank god steve. Unlike someone named tomSEA you understand that most pirates would never buy it in the first place and that effort should be focused on the game instead. "

There is someguy called princetod than dont understand than if you could steal bread without a punishment no one would pay to the baker. I live in a non high income country and I torrent some games, but at least I dont get angry when the people than made the games get angry about this affair.

It is scary to think about how would be the world without police or law looking how people react to this, is like, how do you want me to be fair? (sorry for the english)

 

[princeton]

Guest said:
"Thank god steve. Unlike someone named tomSEA you understand that most pirates would never buy it in the first place and that effort should be focused on the game instead. "

There is someguy called princetod than dont understand than if you could steal bread without a punishment no one would pay to the baker. I live in a non high income country and I torrent some games, but at least I dont get angry when the people than made the games get angry about this affair.

It is scary to think about how would be the world without police or law looking how people react to this, is like, how do you want me to be fair? (sorry for the english)

Meh the english was better than mine actually. You see here in Canada we think a bit differently than the US. We don't waste peoples tax dollars for trials relating to piracy. It's like jaywalking and speeding. We let it slide for minor cases. I would never steal bread and I never pirate games. I'm simply saying that it's a waste of time going after people who download torrents. If these companies want to make a difference, target the UPLOADERS.

 

[princeton]

TomSEA said:
"Unlike someone named tomSEA you understand that most pirates would never buy it in the first place..."

That is the single most pathetic, childish and selfish excuse to steal there is. Congratulations on showing your true colors.

I don't pirate. I simply was stating that your arguments are always about how piracy is the most evil thing on earth, while others focus on a worthwhile use of money. In an economic crisis it should make you wonder why these companies can spend so much money on targeting pirates, gain so little, then complain about lost money.

 

[Johny47]

Good for them.

 

[TomSEA]

"should make you wonder why these companies can spend so much money on targeting pirates..."

Oh gosh - I'm sure the thought that they're losing millions of dollars in lost revenue after years of development and literally tens of millions invested in that development has something to do with it.

More and more PC gaming companies are banging the drum on this because they've had it with the colossal amount of theft of their products. Many have turned to console development only and might do a shitty PC port after the fact. (thanks very much thieving a-holes) as a result. PC gaming and developers have taken a helluva beating from theft and all these asinine, "I would never buy it so that entitles me to steal it" excuses make it that much worse by encouraging even more theft.

"In an economic crisis it should make you wonder why these companies can spend so much money on targeting pirates, gain so little, then complain about lost money."

Guess what, princeton, if there wasn't any theft - or even a minimal amount of theft - they wouldn't be doing this.

 

[princeton]

TomSEA said:
"should make you wonder why these companies can spend so much money on targeting pirates..."

Oh gosh - I'm sure the thought that they're losing millions of dollars in lost revenue after years of development and literally tens of millions invested in that development has something to do with it.

More and more PC gaming companies are banging the drum on this because they've had it with the colossal amount of theft of their products. Many have turned to console development only and might do a shitty PC port after the fact. (thanks very much thieving a-holes) as a result. PC gaming and developers have taken a helluva beating from theft and all these asinine, "I would never buy it so that entitles me to steal it" excuses make it that much worse by encouraging even more theft.

"In an economic crisis it should make you wonder why these companies can spend so much money on targeting pirates, gain so little, then complain about lost money."

Guess what, princeton, if there wasn't any theft - or even a minimal amount of theft - they wouldn't be doing this.

You took it right out of context. Learn to read.

 

[HaMsTeYr]

I'll admit to this, I torrented the witcher enhanced edition. I'll also admit that I really loved the game, and when the witcher 2 comes out, I intend to buy the game, just like how I bought a lot of other titles that I loved.

It may seem like self justification, but as a student living in Australia on a limited budget, I don't really have that much money to spend on games, coupled together with the fact that games in Australia can be really expensive (Importing them from overseas turns out cheaper 99% of the time too)

Still, what I can say is that If you love the game guys, please buy it to support the developers. People who just leech the games off for free, not having purchased any in their life, are just really cheap skates and they do not realise that they're probably single handedly destroying the pc gaming scene (Ruling out online hackers of course)

I won't run judgemental stances on people who torrent games, but all I ask is that if you love the game, please buy it. Support the developers because you know they deserve it. Realise that torrenting games that deserve your money is killing the number of games that get onto the pc, so the next time you complain about a console exclusive game, while you stare at your stash of torrented games, look at yourself as you have no one else to blame.

I may seem hypocritical at this point but my 2 cents. I love the witcher and I'd hate to see it go console exclusive or something. I would kill people.

 

[TomSEA]

I took nothing out of context. The facts are what they are and you are engaging in double-speak (why are they spending money only to complain about losing it) to chastise companies for trying to protect their investment interests from horrific levels of theft.

Again, you are the one who is trying to defend your comments (and piracy) with the asinine, "it's OK to steal if you don't want to buy it" excuse.

 

[Steve]

Wow this really escalated quickly didn’t it.

Since no one has even the slightest chance of winning this online keyboard fight or the million just like it on forums all around the world wide web, we need a better means to vent/fight and argue or as some gentlemen might say discuss.

One of these developers needs to come up with a virtual reality octagon where all battles no matter how big or small can be settled there Now that would be way more fun for the participants and the spectators.

Anyway as you were...

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

How about StarCraft 2?

 

[Steve]

Yeah that’s not a bad proposal but I am still leaning towards virtual reality with pain mode enabled

 

[princeton]

TomSEA said:
I took nothing out of context. The facts are what they are and you are engaging in double-speak (why are they spending money only to complain about losing it) to chastise companies for trying to protect their investment interests from horrific levels of theft.

Again, you are the one who is trying to defend your comments (and piracy) with the asinine, "it's OK to steal if you don't want to buy it" excuse.

Yes, you did. If you would have quoted the whole thing your post wouldn't have made sense. That's taking out of context. Read past that part and you see that I went on to say that they should be like us and target UPLOADERS.