CD Projekt Red drops anti-piracy lawsuits

As you may (or may not) have heard, CD Projekt Red (developers of the rather spiffy RPG The Witcher 2) had been taking somewhat dubious actions against those who’d supposedly pirated their game. Alleged file-sharers were being contacted by a big scary law firm and being asked to pay sizeable amounts (750 Euros, in one case) or face a court date. Of course, the process of actually identifying a pirate through file-sharing is rather inexact, so the whole affair was a bit of a farce.
Happily, CD Projekt seems to have realised this too and has issued the following statement on the matter, replicated here in full:
An Open Letter to the Gaming Community from CD Projekt RED

Recommended Videos

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
Now, before all this CD Projekt Red were generally regarded as a pretty nice company, being staunchly against DRM and whatnot. So let’s all refrain from pirating The Witcher 2, eh?
Source: rockpapershotgun.com
Image taken from The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings


PC Invasion is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more
related content
Read Article Best Acheron build in Honkai Star Rail: Light Cone, Relics, and Trace priority
Honkai Star Rail Acheron
Read Article Baldur’s Gate 3 player found a rare letter from Alfira to the Dark Urge
Baldurs Gate 3 Player Found A Rare Letter From Alfira To The Dark Urge
Read Article Log into Fortnite today to get 950 free V-Bucks — if you’re lucky
Fortnite Free V Bucks Glitch
Related Content
Read Article Best Acheron build in Honkai Star Rail: Light Cone, Relics, and Trace priority
Honkai Star Rail Acheron
Read Article Baldur’s Gate 3 player found a rare letter from Alfira to the Dark Urge
Baldurs Gate 3 Player Found A Rare Letter From Alfira To The Dark Urge
Read Article Log into Fortnite today to get 950 free V-Bucks — if you’re lucky
Fortnite Free V Bucks Glitch