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Witcher 3 DRM-free

CD Projekt Red says if someone wants to pirate the game, they will.

542 Comments

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will not feature always-online digital rights management (DRM). Developer CD Projekt Red told Kotaku that the studio is trying to move away from DRM altogether.

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"We are trying to get rid of DRM," game designer Maciej Szczesnik said. "If someone wants to pirate a game, eventually he will."

"Which is bad, of course," managing director Adam Badowski added. "But you can't do anything about it, so. We want to give the best user experience possible. When we removed DRM, people on those torrents were actually asking people not to download our game, because we [weren't using DRM]."

The Witcher 3 not featuring any DRM is not much of a surprise. Last year, CD Projekt Red CEO Marcin Iwinski said "Every subsequent game, we will never use any DRM anymore. It's just overcomplicating things."

The Witcher 3 is Geralt's final story and reportedly has 100 hours of gameplay. The role-playing game is due to launch in 2014 for PlayStation 4, PC, and other "high-end" platforms. CD Projekt Red is considering adding a series-first multiplayer component to the game.

For more on The Witcher 3, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

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Jmalta

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Edited By Jmalta

They are the greatest!The Witcher franchise is one of my favorite of all Time.Just the fact of they being Polish dev.(which I dont know many..) and doing that stuff listened over here its aweasome.60 dollars for a game like the witcher 1,2 or the 3 is cheap compared to the great work they do

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focuspuller

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Cyberpunk is going to be AMAZING.

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deactivated-5ce92612ab724

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Respect <3

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Kunasha

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This isn't actually news. Of course this would happen. The real news would be if this wasn't the case.

Why do I say that? Because CD Project RED earned my respect, and then proceeded to gain my trust. I trust them to focus on an awesome gaming experience and nothing else, because they have shown time and time again that they are unwavering and are to be trusted, and they respect me and my consumer rights to the fullest.

CD Project RED is truly an arbiter of good taste in the PC gaming scene. May they never fail.

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LilithN

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Edited By LilithN

@Kunasha I agree to the fullest. I love the Witcher series, and love CDPR. Full respect, I will always buy their games.

2 • 
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bandarman

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I love these guys. CDPR are the best devs around.

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Necro_Fear89

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Edited By Necro_Fear89

People will still find ways to pirate even games with DRM, there are ways around it and the more you make an issue of it them more people will do it. These companies are still going strong and making games, if piracy were such a huge issue like some make it out to be more developers and corporations would be going down under.

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grove12345

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Edited By grove12345

@Necro_Fear89 it is a big issue actually. and lots of gaming developers are going under. infact a few HUUUGE ones have. Maybe not directly related to piracy. But im sure the extra 25% in sales would of helped them stay in business.

But ya what is the point of DRM if you can just hack it anyways.

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matty_6666

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Just for the fact they support their fans means ill buy their games! Ill pirate Sim City

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Alt-appy

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Edited By Alt-appy

CDPR are already winners in my book.

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famekiller

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this is why i support their games. and they make awesome ones at that!

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nirmalbalaji

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Damn straight.

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ItsTheSasquatch

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No DRM? Sold. Hell, I'll buy the collector's edition if they make one (PC).

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Darkhol0w

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@ItsTheSasquatch They are primarily a PC developer, so the game will come out on PC first then ported to the consoles.

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matty_6666

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@Darkhol0w @ItsTheSasquatch It will be cross platform PC and next gen consoles

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Darkhol0w

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@matty_6666 @Darkhol0w @ItsTheSasquatch Yea I know that, I just wanted to point out that they are and will be a PC developer at heart.

With that said, if the next Xbox will have always online, I really doubt that they will release it on that console. It's a pretty heavy DRM to begin with.

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interrasteral7

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Argh to all those who pirate The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be walking off me plank.

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Sakuban

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These guys have it all.

Talent to create an awesome serie and big balls!

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SavoyPrime

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Smart move for sure. DRM seems to do more harm than good.

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rantingraj

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Yep very smart move cd project. Now, if we lived in a world where DRM actually did work and made people who absolutely wanted to play DRM'd games, they had to buy it then this would have been the dumbest move ever but since people like skidrow/reloaded etc exist and drm it seems isn't even an inconvenience to those guys, I'd say this is a very smart move indeed because all DRM ever does now is inconvenience the paying customers

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ZombehDino

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I freaking love these guys.

5 • 
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Darkhol0w

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I can't wait to preorder the Collector's Edition again for this game.

I really respect them their mentality and they just "get" us gamers, ya know?


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Gamer_4_Fun

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CD Proejekt is one of handful of developers that look at their games from a gamer's point of view as well.

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alcatraz223

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isn't cd projekt red the most awesome group? at last someone with good thinking, not like the shitty EA who tries desperately to stop pirating but they will never be able to stop it. i usually pirate games (i live in romania and here the games are very very expensive it is equally 1000$ to an american and i'm not joking) but when they'll release witcher 3 i will surely buy it.

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iZeromus

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@alcatraz223 I get you man... I live in Brazil where games are expensive too, they are taxed as unlucky games like casino machines for some reason (Only Console games tho, PC Games are taxed as PC acessories) But I want a PS4 so I guess I will have to buy the game since I would have to buy a new PC or give a very very good update... So wish us luck man.

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TohouAsura

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Edited By TohouAsura

That's nice, and a good choice. DRM only slightly delays the inevitable, and does more damage than it helps.

And you know' he's right. I remember pirating a game once, that before the installation, had a popup with incredibly loud annoying music that said " By pressing OK you agree to eventually buy this game, otherwise this message won't go away". Funny stuff.

OF course I didn't buy the game. In my defense, it was a really shitty game.

I remember when they Announced Witcher 2 was pirated 3x more times than it sold. I felt so bad for pirating it I bought the double pack of Witcher 1 & Witcher 2 right off GoG. Money well spent.

I'm waiting for them to announce a collector's edition.

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Igal-Ze

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Excellent IP.
Great forward thinking company.
Can't wait.

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sepir

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Edited By sepir

Reading everybody's comments about gog.com, I just went and signed up. I already owned TW (physical) and TW2 (steam) enhanced editions, but I think I should support this company more. Looks like some good old games on there, so I will have to get my friends to sign up too as I remember we used to play demo's of them years ago.

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ottumatic

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Its ironic how despite at this time, with so many varieties of media to access (e.g. Youtube, forums) to preview the game, people are still resorting to pirated games to justify the means of 'demo-ing' the game. And chances of them forking a penny after their 'demo' runs well is close to naught.

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kiramasaki

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great games, gamer friendly, what more can you ask from projekt cd, witcher 1 xbox or ps release I guess. But honestly this is the kind of company its easy to root for. Bought dark edition of witcher 2 on the xbox, will by cyberpunk and witcher 3.

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FlameBoyBen

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its nice not to get screwed over for buying a game

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Cloud_imperium

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Edited By Cloud_imperium

@Darkitachi54 What .?

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MKrutko

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DRM doesn't stop pirating, it influences it. Why buy a game when the pirates have less hassle than the paying customer. Pirates can play there games offline, while the paying customer is put on a leash.

10 • 
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meh3re

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Edited By meh3re

@MKrutko I don't see a problem with DRM itself. Steam is basically a DRM software. The problem is that most companies don't get how to implement it (like Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard ... put any other name here).

I do think this is a bold move from CD Projekt RED though and I can see that implementing a custom DRM solution would consume resources that ultimatelly could be used in the game itself.

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Lhomity

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Edited By Lhomity

@MKrutko I'm with you on the anti-intrusive DRM front, but I disagree that DRM influences piracy. It was the advent of bittorrent and other forms of P2P that led us into the DRM era. Piracy created DRM. DRM is designed to minimize piracy.

Does it work for everybody? Nope. Does it give publishers a better chance of maximizing their sales? Publishers wouldn't be using DRM if it didn't.

If you're in the business of making money, it makes zero sense to invest in tactics that lose more money than they make. That means, even at the risk of alienating the anti-DRM portion of their audience, if DRM still works for them, they will continue using it until the day it doesn't.

No matter what side you look at this issue from, people will pirate games and anything else they want, DRM or not. I don't like DRM either, and we can throw around complaints all day about major publishers - I still believe the most accurate living example of human greed today in the modern world is TPB.

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entan

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@Lhomity @MKrutko I think you put a little too much trust in the common sense of people running publishing companies and too little in the marketing power of companies that specialize in creating DRM software.

The truth is, if you want to play game X and you don't want to pay for it, all you have to do is to google the torrent and you're set. Really, it's that easy. Cracked games are often available even before the launch. In the worst case scenario, you might have to wait a few hours.

CDPR guys are totally right. DRM is costly, it's a hassle for the legitimate customer and it seldom buys you more than a few hours of time when someone who wants to steal your game cannot do so.

The only reason why it's used is because in their reports, publishing companies routinely blame piracy for not hitting their financial goals. The shareholders demand that they do something about it, so they put DRM in as a kind of alibi. It doesn't stop anything, but who cares. Shareholders are appeased, publisher's management get their bonus and DRM makers earn a lot of money. Only customers suffer as a result, but so what?


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OldKye

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@Lhomity @MKrutko Though your almost completely right I have to agree with MKruiko DRM didn't start pirating(that would be stupid DRM was a response to pirating) but it does indeed influence it.

Even not having DRM influences it i still remember the boards getting mad at people for pirating Witcher 2 since it didn't have DRM.

When you put DRM in your game it's a challenge "just try to prate this" so people do because it's a challenge and it drives people who would buy the game to want to pirate it or not buy it at all.

2 • 
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Enforcer246

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See, these guys get it. Pissing off your legit customers just to spite pirates won't do anything for your company.

5 • 
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Master_Turismo

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EA really should learn a thing or two from these guys. CD Projekt Red knows how to please the consumer.

5 • 
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MateykoSlam

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i will track and kill anyone who dares to pirate this game

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streamline

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@MateykoSlam Wouldn't it be better to make them buy the game than to kill them? Just make sure they open the box so that they don't just go get a refund after you leave.

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MateykoSlam

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@streamline @MateykoSlam no, i will kill them steal their wallet and build a copy


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SalahDinThe2nD

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Edited By SalahDinThe2nD

@streamline @MateykoSlam You too heartless

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streamline

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@MateykoSlam @streamline Okay, just so long as it helps CD Projekt Red.

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super_csa

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CDPR is by far my favourite developer. I gladly pay full price and give my support for their quality products and great care for their fanbase!

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torres_unix

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Edited By torres_unix

CD Projekt! You have earned my money, I gladly bought Witcher 2, I will gladly buy Witcher 3!


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Buck_Swaggler

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CD Projekt Red, take my money

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american997

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please project red! NO MULTIPLAYER! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!|

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samdam3

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Edited By samdam3

This is so fucking true. BIG UP!

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