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CD Projekt ceases it's legal threats against 'pirates'

C

crimsonheadGCN

Banned
An Open Letter to the Gaming Community from CD Projekt RED

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
Click to expand...

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/12/splendid-cd-projekt-to-stop-legal-threats/

At least they were forced to realize how stupid they were for trying to identifying pirates by IP.
 
E

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
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.
Click to expand...
This is the right way to go about it, and I'm glad they turned around on the lawsuits.
 
Z

Zeouterlimits

Member
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.
Click to expand...
It's frustrating seeing friends pirate games. I'm known as the big "anti-piracy" guy in my group.

Just recently, there's a guy who pretty much hates consoles, exclusively loves PC Games, then pirates Skyrim (Uh, I have to see if it works and is you know goooood), plays it for 50 hours and says "I probably shhhhooould buy it now. But it's Christmas, I'll need the money". Then returns to talking about what he'll do in the game when he goes home.
We've argued about piracy and such self-entitlement before... I've just given up on him.
 
X

XANDER CAGE

Member
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.
Click to expand...

This is pretty awesome.
 
S

Suairyu

Banned
Glad to see them moving away from IP identification suits, but I really wish there was a way they could actually punish pirates. CD Projeckt is the best thing to happens to PC gaming. Better than Valve, though not yet as influential. I don't want white knights of gaming to lose out on their just rewards.
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
An Open Letter to the Gaming Community from CD Projekt RED

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
Click to expand...

that is it.
 
T

TyrantGuardian

Member
Even when they do something wrong, they seem to get it right. Glad to see them value their customer relations above chasing pirates, it's definitely the way to go.
 
Y

YianGaruga

Banned
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.
Click to expand...
I do this all the time, and definitely had success with it.
 
Fredrik

Fredrik

Member
YianGaruga said:
I do this all the time, and definitely had success with it.
Click to expand...
I do that too every time I get the opportunity, I'm quite annoying actually according to them, sadly I haven't got one of them to buy a game yet, they just tell me there will allways be people that keeps buying games so they don't care.
One of my coworkers once said that he almost felt like buying Skyrim though, after learning that Bethesda had come up with Skyrim and the whole Tamriel and it's tales by themselves. He hasn't done it yet though.
 
R

radioheadrule83

Banned
inky said:
If you steal a car do you get one once you pay your fine/do your time? :p
Click to expand...

Imagine if you did... getting a new one would be less of a millstone around your neck if you could go and spend some time in prison instead of paying for one. Hey hun, I'm going out to get that people carrier you wanted for the kids, brb, see you in a year.
 
Y

YianGaruga

Banned
Fredrik said:
I do that too every time I get the opportunity, I'm quite annoying actually according to them, sadly I haven't got one of them to buy a game yet, they just tell me there will allways be people that keeps buying games so they don't care.
One of my coworkers once said that he almost felt like buying Skyrim though, after learning that Bethesda had come up with Skyrim and the whole Tamriel and it's tales by themselves. He hasn't done it yet though.
Click to expand...

I'm not too preachy about it and don't bring it up every opportunity I get, but most of my friends know my stance on the topic and I've gotten a least 2 people to buy more and pirate less. That may also be due to the fact that they get older and get more disposable income, but I hope that I at least raise awareness.

The crazy thing is how weirded out everyone is at first when I tell them that I don't pirate. It's a huge problem in Germany, in my experience, probably because of the big PC culture here.
 
S

SneakyStephan

Banned
I bought TW2 (once it was patched to work properly,at which time it was half off, their loss for releasing it so buggy) and will buy their next game if it's good.

Glad to see that they aren't trying to bully themselves into people's wallets.
Goodwill will get them further than threats.

Treemonkeys said:
Does the owner get to keep the car while I "steal" it?
Click to expand...
You wouldn't clone a car!
I so totally would
 
Fredrik

Fredrik

Member
I think that if there is a way to track down actual pirates, then they should do so, every single one of them. It doesn't matter if it's a 10 year old, a 35 year old or a 80 year old. And they should do it now. In silence. Without these fake warnings.

And finally, they shouldn't make them pay 3 million dollars for downloading 10 games. They should make them pay the actual cost of buying those 10 games. That's enough to make it lesson. Same with music and movies. Think of it as digital shoplifting.
 
C

crimsonheadGCN

Banned
Fredrik said:
I think that if there is a way to track down actual pirates, then they should do so, every single one of them. It doesn't matter if it's a 10 year old, a 35 year old or a 80 year old. And they should do it now. In silence. Without these fake warnings.

And finally, they shouldn't make them pay 3 million dollars for downloading 10 games. They should make them pay the actual cost of buying those 10 games. That's enough to make it lesson. Same with music and movies. Think of it as digital shoplifting.
Click to expand...

That's not enough to pay for the actual lawyers and stuff that they use to track who pirated the software. They would be losing money if they only forced people to pay the cost of buying x amount of games.
 
D

duckroll

Member
CD Projekt vs Bandai Namco Games -> CD Projekt loses

CD Projekt vs Pirates -> CD Projekt loses

What's next? They don't seem to do well with legal matters. Should stick to making games. :p
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
LegatoB said:
Their customers were pretty disgusted that they were resorting to RIAA-style extortion schemes executed about equally well.
Click to expand...

their customers should shut the fuck up as it is not their goddamn business how CD Project deal with their own financial problems. The customers buy the product if they find the price right, that's the end of story.

if people who pirated the game were disgusted at this, than they are not the customers.

duckroll said:
CD Projekt vs Bandai Namco Games -> CD Projekt loses

:p
Click to expand...

they won vs Bamco over DRM. They lost over publishing rights though.
 
D

duckroll

Member
subversus said:
their customers should shut the fuck up as it is not their goddamn business how CD Project deal with their own financial problems. The customers buy the product if they find the price right, that's the end of story.

if people who pirated the game were disgusted at this, than they are not the customers.
Click to expand...

Well, it seems CD Projekt disagrees!

subversus said:
they won vs Bamco over DRM. They lost over publishing rights though.
Click to expand...

Which do you think is more important in terms of going to court for? :)
 
Y

YianGaruga

Banned
Fredrik said:
I think that if there is a way to track down actual pirates, then they should do so, every single one of them. It doesn't matter if it's a 10 year old, a 35 year old or a 80 year old. And they should do it now. In silence. Without these fake warnings.

And finally, they shouldn't make them pay 3 million dollars for downloading 10 games. They should make them pay the actual cost of buying those 10 games. That's enough to make it lesson. Same with music and movies. Think of it as digital shoplifting.
Click to expand...

Making them pay exactly the actual cost still makes pirating a win-win situation though, also it doesn't take into account the money that was spent to find and contact them.

I agree that the current fines are over the top, though.
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
duckroll said:
Which do you think is more important in terms of going to court for? :)
Click to expand...

well, for me personally it was the DRM dispute. I wasn't able to play the game for some time because of it. For CD Project it's the publishing deal obviously.
 
L

LegatoB

Member
subversus said:
their customers should shut the fuck up as it is not their goddamn business how CD Project deal with their own financial problems. The customers buy the product if they find the price right, that's the end of story.
Click to expand...
As a paying customer, I prefer not to do business with companies whose practices I find irresponsible and inappropriate. The Witcher 2 is a great game, but I have no more respect for scattershot "pay us thousands or we'll see you in court" letters sent by the always effective tactic of identifying Does by IP-address when they do it than when the RIAA did it.
 
M

MrNyarlathotep

Banned
subversus said:
their customers should shut the fuck up as it is not their goddamn business how CD Project deal with their own financial problems. The customers buy the product if they find the price right, that's the end of story.

if people who pirated the game were disgusted at this, than they are not the customers.
Click to expand...

Ethical consumers - and by that I mean consumers who let ethics influence where they spend their money - should have every right to tell a company they are reconsidering purchasing from them due to an ethical stance on their actions.

Ethical companies are more than willing to listen, as it can help explain lost sales before they happen. Obviously CD Projekt consider themselves an ethical company.

Unethical companies obviously take the stance that you do; give us the money then stfu.
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
MrNyarlathotep said:
Ethical consumers - and by that I mean consumers who let ethics influence where they spend their money - should have every right to tell a company they are reconsidering purchasing from them due to an ethical stance on their actions.

Ethical companies are more than willing to listen, as it can help explain lost sales before they happen. Obviously CD Projekt consider themselves an ethical company.

Unethical companies obviously take the stance that you do; give us the money then stfu.
Click to expand...

LegatoB said:
As a paying customer, I prefer not to do business with companies whose practices I find irresponsible and inappropriate. The Witcher 2 is a great game, but I have no more respect for scattershot "pay us thousands or we'll see you in court" letters sent by the always effective tactic of identifying Does by IP-address when they do it than when the RIAA did it.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's about being ethical (lol), it's still about money. CD Project aims for rather limited, but very dedicated audience so they have to listen to them in order to maintain brand loyalty. Companies like Activision aim for broad appeal so they can sell in droves and they can allow themselves not to care about what some minority thinks as they don't depend on them financially. This kind of attitude took place when mass production replaced craftsmanship. You need to produce a big volume and sell in big volumes or it's not viable financially.

which path the company chooses depends on them. Some people don't like making products with broad appeal, so they have to appeal to a limited audience in order to continue do what they love. Same goes for other businesses as well.
 
T

tsab

Member
*applauses*
CD Project's games are not my cup of tea but I must say their response is excellent. For me that's how you run a company. I am not saying that I will run to the stores to buy Witcher but hey, if they make something I like, they will have my monetary support and one added sale ;)
 
M

MrNyarlathotep

Banned
subversus said:
I don't think it's about being ethical (lol), it's still about money.
Click to expand...

Right, it is about money.
The only power a consumer has over a corporation is spending power, because there are very few products that do not have competitors, even in the field of videogames.
If you - as a consumer - don't like how a company operates, literally all you can do short of getting yourself hired as CEO and changing things is not give that company money.

CD Projekt have been very clear about their stance on DRM and both how it adversely affects consumers and how it doesn't affect pirates, and to specific aspects of their potential consumer base it is a reason to support them as a business, both through their RED development and through GOG.

If members of that targetted group had problems with what CD Projekt were doing - RPS specifically came out against it for example, and RPS are pretty influential in the PC Gaming sphere - CDP had a choice of saying what you did ("You paid your money, you got your product, stfu we do what we want") or of looking at what kind of business they want to be, and how they want to be perceived.

I don't think there's anything wrong at all with either the decision they made, or that their consumers raised ethical concerns with their actions.

I wish more consumers voted with their wallets when they hear about unsavoury business practices, as there would be less unsavoury business practices.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Good, their witchhunt sounded ridiculous.

The letter does NOT, however, include a mea culpa for their initial defence. Simply that they would not be pursuing it. Their initial defence claimed the technology could not have false positives--do they still stand by that?
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
MrNyarlathotep said:
I wish more consumers voted with their wallets when they hear about unsavoury business practices, as there would be less unsavoury business practices.
Click to expand...

yep, consumers are almost shareholders, they invest in a company by supporting it and in this day and age when everybody knows everything maintaining a clean image have become crucial.
 
G

Goldstorm

Banned
oh well, I understood why they did this after they announced the pitiful sales of the DRM-free copy of The Witcher 2 on GoG.com.

tsab said:
*applauses*
CD Project's games are not my cup of tea but I must say their response is excellent. For me that's how you run a company. I am not saying that I will run to the stores to buy Witcher but hey, if they make something I like, they will have my monetary support and one added sale ;)
Click to expand...

lol gamers on forums sure like to make a lot of noise about DRM but sadly it doesn't translate to great sales, it's just hot air. I'm 100% sure you will forget about this news story anyway "when they make something you like" (there is not even 1 game you are interested in on gog? Witcher EE was on sale several times for 5$)
 
Fredrik

Fredrik

Member
YianGaruga said:
Making them pay exactly the actual cost still makes pirating a win-win situation though, also it doesn't take into account the money that was spent to find and contact them.

I agree that the current fines are over the top, though.
Click to expand...
How can it be win-win situation? They get to pay for the games, more than if they would've bought it at a store during sales etc, and they'll get a criminal record too. Making them pay more, like millions or whatever, only make them get the general public on their side since most people, pirates or not, thinks the current fines are a joke which almost turns the pirates into victims which makes things even worse.
 
G

gabbo

Member
It's good to see, except this line:
While we are confident that no one who legally owns one of our games has been required to compensate us for copyright infringement
Click to expand...

This makes it seem like they see the issue as only pirates vs paying customers who are being caught up in this. That is not what we always end up seeing - groups of people who don't have the capability to pirate getting caught in the net due to the way the flimsy evidence is collected being forced to pay fines (thanks German law).

Hopefully they won't change their stance on DRM are a result of this. They've still got my support, even if this was a dick move in order to go after pirates.
 
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