The Witcher 2 – Assassin’s Of Kings: 4.5 Million Copies Stolen
CD Projekt, the studio creator of The Witcher 2 has made it clear that it believes that the games industry is better off DRM-free. It actually made good with this belief by releasing Witcher 2 without any DRM last May. The result? Well, 4.5 million illegal downloads according to CEO Marcin Iwinski. Despite this, Iwinski and the rest of CD Projekt remains against DRM and also anti-pirate at the same time.
According to Iwinski, “As of today we have sold over 1 million legal copies, so having only 4.5 – 5 illegal copies for each legal one would not be not a bad ration. The reality is probably worse.” Iwinski admitted that the studio had gone through some failed experiments with DRM and that he and the rest of team plan to solve their problem with piracy with proper pricing. “[We] came up with new strategy: we started offering high value with the product – like enhancing the game with additional collectors’ items like soundtracks, making-of DVDs, books, walkthroughs, etc.” He feels that with proper pricing, there could be a healthy market. He does not want to use DRM, however, because it is easy to crack and can be inconvenient even to players who actually pay. Iwinski went on to say that gamers should “vote with their wallets”. He feels that they should use social media to get studios and publishers refrain from using DRM. Iwinski believes that social media can have a great effect on the publishers’ reactions.
Screenshot of The Witcher 2 - Assassins of Kings (Credit: Namco Bandai Games)
They would not want to have negative comments and reactions from gamers. While it may sound unreasonable for the idea to come from a guy who just thought that the statistics of illegal downloads are worse in reality even after having experience 4.5 million of those, it sure is good to make your opinions known.
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