CD Projekt on Witcher 2 piracy

Updated:05:36 PM CET Dec,10

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Gameguru Mania News - Nov,23 2010 -

CD Projekt on Witcher 2 piracy - briefly
(hx) 03:38 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 - Post a comment / read (16)
CD Projekt told Eurogamer that gamers who download upcoming PC exclusive The Witcher 2 illegally could receive a letter demanding they pay a fine or face legal action. If gamers refuse to pay the fine, which will be more than the cost of the game, they could end up in court. Wow! "Of course we're not happy when people are pirating our games, so we are signing with legal firms and torrent sneaking companies," CD Projekt co-founder Marcin IwiÅ„ski said. "In quite a few big countries, when people are downloading it illegally they can expect a letter from a legal firm saying, 'Hey, you downloaded it illegally and right now you have to pay a fine.'

Normally, law firms specialising in cracking down on illegal downloaders approach torrent sites and ask for the names of Internet Service Providers used by people who download cracked games. They then write to the ISPs threatening legal action if they refuse to spill the account details of users. From that, real names are drilled down, and letters are sent out. The process has come under scrutiny in recent months for a perceived lack of efficiency and questions around security.

last 10 comments:

Csimbi

(05:07 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )

There are indeed serious problems associated with proving that someone has downloaded a game using the bit-torrent protocol, and most often these sneaking/spying companies catch the wrong guy.
Another problem is that there many countries where you can download anything (including games, music and movies) from the internet for private purposes - that is not illegal at all; only distribution of these "goods" are illegal.
So, the only chance for these "sneaking/spying companies" is to find peers that are uploading content actively (not just being reported as sources by the trackers) - but these are typically hijacked computers and their owners have no clue what's going on, or, servers rented in the far east where most laws and regulations are not applicable.

As for the game, I will surely buy it (loved the first one and own that, too).
But. If CD Project thinks they can achieve what others could not, they are only fooling themselves...
Sure, they can protect it with heavy DRMs that may hold back people from cracking their game for a few weeks, but the heavy DRM is going to disappoint the real owners who actually pay, so the whole thing will backfire in the long run...

If the game is good, people will buy it.
If it's bad, people won't buy it.
And, there will always be kids who believe it's fun to circumvent the system. For them, it does not matter whether the game is good or bad - they just use it to stroke their ego or show off to their friends. There's nothing you can do about this. The sooner you accept that fact and learn to coop with it, the faster you save all that money spent on useless firms and lawsuits.

One more thing. Many companies blame the pirates when their sales are low and they are looking for a way to make a quick buck (dragging mostly innocent people into court). The sad part is that they ignore the fact that their game might actually suck and nobody is willing to pay for it...

psolord	(05:13 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )
Witcher owner here as well. CD project can go screw themselves if they think they can bully people around. I am still going to buy Witcher 2 because it seems like a good game. Good luck to them finding people that download from filehosters though. lol

(06:05 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )

First off, CDP says "We're not going to put DRM in the game so that we don't punish our customers." (DRM free version on GOG.com)

Now CDP says "But we're still going to try to punish those that aren't our customers yet play the game anyway."

So, it's basically the RIAA way? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, CD Projekt, but the RIAA spent like 20 million dollars in legal fees to collect 800,000 dollars of fines. That is not what normal people would call smart business.

Majnun

(06:47 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )

If the game is good people will buy it?

Are you an idiot?

Yes, if the game is good SOME people will buy it. Me, and I am assuming from your naive statements you, and SOME other people.

But MANY other assholes will pirate a GOOD game exactly the same as they will pirate a bad game and they will NEVER buy a copy. You're a fool if you think every asshole who downloads an illegal copy of a game and finds the game good will end up buying the game. A complete and utter fool. The only thing that will change is the excuse they use for not paying for it.

I can't see how this will help prevent piracy all that much but I hope they nuke the fucking hell out of as many assholes as they can. Fuck you pirates.

Of course any pirate who is too stupid to use a proxy and find another means of getting a game illegally is a complete idiot too and deserves to be fined for their own stupidity.

And to me it seems that anybody who bitches about this is a thieving asshole looking for some bullshit reason to justify their thievery. They are giving us a DRM FREE version of the fucking game. That's what everybody wants. If the game SUCKS everyone will know it fairly quickly. Saying you need to download a copy illegally to find out if it sucks or not is utter bullshit. Especially if they put out a demo...which I sure hope they do. But this is The Witcher 2 FFS I'm pretty sure it will not suck.

Edit: thinking of something after reading the post below me... I think CD Projekt might have been smarter if they had done exactly as they are intending to do (fining the shit out of pirates) but NOT coming out and saying that they intended to do so before the game came out. Why warn thieves that you will be sitting beside the window they usually come through waiting to grab them...that just tells them to use a different window (unless they're morons) and it gives you idiots some magical reason to bitch.

gx-x

(06:48 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )

I don't see the point in this. Their first game was DRM free as well and sold very well. It sold excellent for that matter, I think it was better than crysis.
The thing is, you cannot go against mentality and/or people's wallets by force. I said a couple of times here already, I am from Serbia, compared to USA or EU countries we are very poor country and yet, I know that lot of people here bought witcher after playing it through on downloaded copy. Game is good, price is very good (we earn ~400$/mo on average) and people bought it out of respect and to support quality. I think it was ~20$ here (~16 euros), which is still no small feat if you earn 400$ per month and half of that goes on bills, and you have to eat, go out etc etc.

so, as far as I am concerned, Witcher 1 was a big success, excellent sales, good price, EXCELLENT game.

I just don't see why they had to go with these kind of statements. Piracy in most small countries means that you are distributing copyright material or using it in commercial purposes, not using it for personal needs. It is not regarded as theft since the owner is not missing anything physically and cannot prove that you stole from him.

I don't think I will buy witcher 2, I cannot afford it, BUT if I could buy it, I would buy it on physical media. I would most certainly try it before I buy it. Games I buy - I keep. I buy them after I like them :P

However, I am not saying I approve of piracy in general. I strongly disapprove of stealing or illegal downloading of software if you can afford it. Most western world citizens can due to salary/cost ratio and I think it's just, for lack of a better word, rude to pirate when you can afford something.

some will find my post hypocritical but I can't think of a better way to portray my thoughts to those of you that, for example, have a 2000+$ salaries...One night in town costs you at least 50$ (club night), here it costs 10$, it is somewhat proportional to salary difference (400 vs 2000) but that 50$ game costs the same here and in US.

gx-x

(07:03 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )

Majnun> If the game is good people will buy it?

Are you an idiot?

Yes, if the game is good SOME people will buy it. Me, and I am assuming from your naive statements you, and SOME other people.

But MANY other assholes will pirate a GOOD game exactly the same as they will pirate a bad game and they will NEVER buy a copy. You're a fool if you think every asshole who downloads an illegal copy of a game and finds the game good will end up buying the game. A complete and utter fool. The only thing that will change is the excuse they use for not paying for it.

I can't see how this will help prevent piracy all that much but I hope they nuke the fucking hell out of as many assholes as they can. Fuck you pirates.

Of course any pirate who is too stupid to use a proxy and find another means of getting a game illegally is a complete idiot too and deserves to be fined for their own stupidity.

And to me it seems that anybody who bitches about this is a thieving asshole looking for some bullshit reason to justify their thievery. They are giving us a DRM FREE version of the fucking game. That's what everybody wants. If the game SUCKS everyone will know it fairly quickly. Saying you need to download a copy illegally to find out if it sucks or not is utter bullshit. Especially if they put out a demo...which I sure hope they do. But this is The Witcher 2 FFS I'm pretty sure it will not suck.

I think (I might not be right) that most people that pirate cannot afford the game in the first place. Not like they don't have money in their pocket, but like, it's too much money (see my previous post).

So, I think that most that pirate the games wouldn't have bought them in the first place. Those are not lost sales, those sales are were not even a potential sales. (again, I might not be right about any of this, this is just my opinion)

Assuming that my opinion is valid (I am not saying it is), how would you fine someone that cannot pay a fine? You'll pay your lawyers 20-50$ per hour, fine me for let's say 5.000$, I don't have that kind of money, I end up in jail, my time there is payed by taxpayers money, company never get's it's money and we end up with spent taxpayers money, prison space that I will occupy (potentially keeping some rapist out of jail because prison is full), company ends up with ~300$ loss (spent on lawyers) and all that for what? To prove a point?

Now, catch and fine 100.000 of those that downloaded the game, multiply the prison space, taxpayers money and company losses. I don't think it's a good business strategy nor social one.

as far as proving the point goes, look at RIAA and it's 'nuff said.

tride	(08:12 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )
This is not a way to make more customers! So I am definitely pirating this game, just to see if ill get a letter :lol: I never played W1, not interested in the genre, but i will pirate it! 8)

Csimbi

(08:29 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )

tride> This is not a way to make more customers! So I am definitely pirating this game, just to see if ill get a letter :lol:
I never played W1, not interested in the genre, but i will pirate it! 8)
There, you have it.
While CDP's statement is not going to win the hearts of the potential customers, I am sure it was a bad idea because people that are partial might be encouraged by it to go the opposite way just to prove them wrong (see tride's example above); threats just do not work and some might be actually offended/agitated by it even though the message is not for them...

Being dragged to court over piracy usually goes without saying, so I would be interested to know why did they decide to make such statement in the first place.

tride	(08:41 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )
Its the most normal human reaction to not take someones shit, that is trying to tell him how to think, act, what i right and wrong, what to do and not to do! Fuck those companies and people and politics and so on and so on! Fuckin find the right way to win peoples hearts and minds, and take their money or FUCK you big time!

Tom	(09:01 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )
Witcher was always over rated. Couldn't care less for the series. It's not even interesting enough to want to download it illegally.

raven99

(10:26 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )

Csimbi> There are indeed serious problems associated with proving that someone has downloaded a game using the bit-torrent protocol, and most often these sneaking/spying companies catch the wrong guy.
Another problem is that there many countries where you can download anything (including games, music and movies) from the internet for private purposes - that is not illegal at all; only distribution of these "goods" are illegal.
So, the only chance for these "sneaking/spying companies" is to find peers that are uploading content actively (not just being reported as sources by the trackers) - but these are typically hijacked computers and their owners have no clue what's going on, or, servers rented in the far east where most laws and regulations are not applicable.

As for the game, I will surely buy it (loved the first one and own that, too).
But. If CD Project thinks they can achieve what others could not, they are only fooling themselves...
Sure, they can protect it with heavy DRMs that may hold back people from cracking their game for a few weeks, but the heavy DRM is going to disappoint the real owners who actually pay, so the whole thing will backfire in the long run...

If the game is good, people will buy it.
If it's bad, people won't buy it.
And, there will always be kids who believe it's fun to circumvent the system. For them, it does not matter whether the game is good or bad - they just use it to stroke their ego or show off to their friends. There's nothing you can do about this. The sooner you accept that fact and learn to coop with it, the faster you save all that money spent on useless firms and lawsuits.

One more thing. Many companies blame the pirates when their sales are low and they are looking for a way to make a quick buck (dragging mostly innocent people into court). The sad part is that they ignore the fact that their game might actually suck and nobody is willing to pay for it...

Ok Idiot if you download an IP owned by someone else without paying for it and without there consent that's illegal. They have every right to do what is necessary to protect any IP they own. I just love the level of intelligence of this community. The exact type of mindset that makes pirates and hackers thrive. All you people who think the pirates are fighting the noble cause. I'm wasting my time but ill say it again all the hated security measures companies take to protect there games are a direct result of these idiot pirates and thieves. The sooner you morons get that through your think skulls and stop supporting these losers the sooner these security measures might ease up.

tub0rg	(10:54 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )
you gotta love this shit, they pay laywers so they can con stupid poeple out of their money, who believe the shit they write on paper. and thank god i live in a country where they dont have any legal merit beyond a 20 buck fine. im looking foward to recieve my CD Project sponsonred toilet paper.

Csimbi	(11:28 PM CET - Nov,23 2010 )
raven99> Ok Idiot if you download an IP owned by someone else without paying for it and without there consent that's illegal. I suggest you read up on laws in other countries (start with Sweden for example) before rushing into incorrect conclusions...

sikapossu	(01:38 AM CET - Nov,24 2010 )
first game was 1 of the best rpg so going buy this on when it get release for sure edit : and if you buy games like normal ppl do this dont really should be any problem to anyone

gx-x

(05:43 AM CET - Nov,24 2010 )

raven99>

Ok [censored] if you download an IP owned by someone else without paying for it and without there consent that's illegal. They have every right to do what is necessary to protect any IP they own. I just love the level of intelligence of this community. The exact type of mindset that makes pirates and hackers thrive. All you people who think the pirates are fighting the noble cause. I'm wasting my time but ill say it again all the hated security measures companies take to protect there games are a direct result of these [censored] pirates and thieves. The sooner you morons get that through your think skulls and stop supporting these losers the sooner these security measures might ease up.

wtf are you on about?! What noble cause? There is no noble cause, there are those who can pay and those who cannot. Minority of pirates are people who CAN pay, but don't want to. Only the last ones are potential lost sales. All others wouldn't buy anything.

I'm starting to think that some people think it's a privilege to be "poor" so you can justify pirating, or worse, some people think that "pirates" should suffer because they don't pay for something others do, making those paying customers look like fools. I for one never thought it that way, nor I will. I wrote all I had in previous posts.
Only thing I can add is that most games are not worth shit. CoD BlackOps isn't worth 10 yens (~0.01$) effort put in it is zero, if anyone put more than that, he/she should get another job. And that is AAA title?! You know what's AAA title worth the effort? GT5. Nothing else. All others should cost ten times less, even more. If development costs were high, well, fuck it, coders are not worth it then are they?
As a investor/publisher, for something like BlackOps I wouldn't pay more than 100.000$ It's a bloody copy/paste all over the place. Compared to cryisis, it's not worth 10$ (engine, not gameplay)

Csimbi

(06:59 PM CET - Nov,24 2010 )

gx-x> Minority of pirates are people who CAN pay, but don't want to. Only the last ones are potential lost sales. All others wouldn't buy anything.
IMHO, there is another minority. I believe that there are a good deal of people who are not aware of the fact that what they do is actually piracy. They simply don't know.

gx-x> Only thing I can add is that most games are not worth shit.
While I agree with this statement to some extent, I have to point out that for some it's just another excuse not to pay for the games that they play.

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