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.