The Witcher 3 on PC will come without any DRM

Scorpus

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witcher drm piracy pc gaming cd projekt red the witcher 3

There's nothing that PC gamers hate more than restrictive anti-piracy measures (and bad console ports), so it will be welcome news that CD Projekt Red are completely ditching DRM for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The developer posted an open letter on their blog today to say "loud and clear" that the upcoming game will feature no DRM whatsoever in the GOG.com and retail boxed copies of the game.

For users of Steam, CD Projekt Red states that The Witcher 3 will still be available through the game distribution platform, however it will include mandatory Steam authentication measures. Despite this fact, the company stressed that "where CDPR does have control — like GOG.com — there will be absolutely no DRM", giving gamers a DRM-free option if they choose.

This announcement follows CD Projekt Red's push away from DRM in recent years. The Witcher 2 was available without DRM through certain online storefronts, and GOG.com, which is owned by the developer, offers several hundred older games without any DRM. The Witcher 3 is their first title to be available in retail boxed copies sans-DRM.

Anti-piracy measures have been largely unsuccessful at curbing PC game piracy, with almost every DRM-protected game seeing a workaround or 'crack' developed within hours of the game's release. Even the most intrusive and user-unfriendly measures, such as Ubisoft's infamous always-online DRM for titles like Assassin's Creed II, have been cracked in relatively short amounts of time, leaving legitimate gamers with the hassles of the protection system without any benefits to publishers.

Luckily, many companies have scaled back their DRM efforts in the past few years, and PC gamers are generally happy with using platforms such as Steam despite its anti-piracy measures. CD Projekt Red continues to be at the forefront of anti-DRM movements, shown here by the lack of DRM in The Witcher 3.

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Just this after-noon I watched a video that drew my attention to the Witcher series. I was actually keeping my eyes open for news about Witcher 3. This is one more positive piece of news that I was not expecting to hear. I may just have to purchase the game to support non-DRM titles, regardless of my interest in the game.
 
The Witcher 1: DRM is knocked out with the last released patch.
The Witcher 2: DRM is knocked out with the first released patch.
The Witcher 3: no DRM whatsoever.

I like where this is going :D
 
Seems like a case of "It doesnt work anyway whats the point?" to me.

Not that thats a bad thing.
 
There's nothing PC gamers hate more than someone's generalisation of what they hate more :)
 
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