CD Projekt Encourages Industry To Go DRM-Free

There must be some kind of crazy juice in the water in Poland, because CD Projekt CEO Michal Kicinski, the man who decided to completely remake The Witcher and then give it away, is now espousing the benefits of going completely DRM-free.

"We're trying to convince [other publishers] there is nothing to be afraid of," he said in an interview with GamesIndustry. "DRM-free, that is something they are really scared of, but on the other hand we can say, 'All of those games are available pirated widely so it's better to sell them for small money than make the customer's life difficult and get some more revenues.'"

Kicinski said that the growing belief in digital distribution as a method of effective yet unobtrusive DRM is misguided, pointing out that even Steam, Valve's hugely successful platform that's widely regarded as an effective counter to game copying, is flawed and can hamstring legitimate gamers. "I had Steam but I had the problem that my internet provider could not work with it so I couldn't use the games I bought," he said. "I think that if somebody is paying for the game then they deserve to own it, not with a certain list of conditions and sometimes the list of conditions can be long."

"DRM makes customers' lives too complicated, and this is usually because of some corporate ideas, policies and trying to be smart, too smart, in how to get customers and how to keep them and not let them go somewhere else," he continued. "We are believers in the free market and bringing freedom to customers."

Kicinski isn't just blowing smoke: CD Projekt's efforts over the past year appear almost purposely aimed at proving that the industry can act in the best interests of gamers and still make a few bucks. Despite the tremendous success of The Witcher RPG , the company responded to various fan complaints by completely overhauling the game and re-releasing it as The Witcher Enhanced Edition, which it then made available for free to gamers who had purchased the original release. CD Projekt also recently launched its own digital distribution service called Good Old Games, offering classic games from years past patched to run on current systems and completely free of copy protection.

"Piracy in Poland is always much, much bigger here than in Western countries so we got used to living with piracy and we grew up in a surrounding where there was no help from governments to actually fight piracy. So we had to learn to compete with pirates," Kicinski said, explaining the company's unusual attitude toward DRM. "For example we believe that GOG.com makes such a good offer that it's not worth pirating. We attract people to buy the original games instead of pirating them and that's the most efficient way of fighting piracy."

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Everytime I see things like this it makes me think that Stardock and CD Projeckt are the wave to the future. . . but this little nagging voice inside of me whispers "What if the PC Gaming community is too stupid to see it and their efforts fail?"

I sincerely hope not.

Kudos to these guys.

As someone who knows how to pirate most any game I want, I still don't do it. There are honest people like me out there, who when offered a decent product at a fair price, will pay for the product even when they could steal it for free. What appalls me is that AS the paying customer, I'm treated like the pirate I could have been. To date, I have never heard of a 100% perfect anti-piracy method, and parallel to that, to date I have never heard of any anti-piracy method that doesn't infringe on the paying customer's ability to use his purchase.

What the fuck is up with that? It's like the industry WANTS us to pirate, because who in their right mind would pay for something that makes you jump through a hundred hoops to get it to work, when you can take a cracked copy for free and jump through no hoops.

Khell_Sennet:

What the fuck is up with that? It's like the industry WANTS us to pirate, because who in their right mind would pay for something that makes you jump through a hundred hoops to get it to work, when you can take a cracked copy for free and jump through no hoops.

False sense of security sums it up pretty much.

DRM doesn't erradicate or minimize piracy? It's more likely than you think.

First Good Old Games and now this? My love for CDP just sky rocketed.

JakubK666:
First Good Old Games and now this? My love for CDP just sky rocketed.

Yeah these guys are getting cooler every month.

It's like if they don't do something that sucks soon enough, then the world will be imbalanced.

Go Michal, go! God, I love these CD Projekt guys. First, they openly admit the errors they made on The Witcher. Then, they go well above and beyond what is required to fix those errors, adding to the game for free. Now, they come out against DRM in favor of the customer. EA, take notice, these are the kinds of people your customers are going to do business with if you keep this up. Next thing you know, they'll be the ones above EA. Could happen, EA was that small once too.

Royas, if EA takes notice of CD Projekt they'll just try and buy them.

It's a smart move for CD Projekt, I reckon they realise with all the DRM things going on now that not having it will build a fan base. I also reckon they realise that people are much more likely to check out games from developers they know and respect.

I'm much more likely to look into games developed by Valve, Relic or Blizzard, three gamming companys I hold in high regard for making very good games, Then say a company that has draconic DRM methods and doesn't support its consumers.

Major props. These guys know what's what.

Go Poland!

Cheers to CD Projekt, they're making gaming better for all of us. Can anyone tell me if that fancy enchanced version of The Witcher is available on Steam or elsewhere?

poleboy:
Cheers to CD Projekt, they're making gaming better for all of us. Can anyone tell me if that fancy enchanced version of The Witcher is available on Steam or elsewhere?

Witcher or EE isn't available on Steam so you should just look it up on Ebay or in local shops. Also, you can download a free Enhanced Edition Patch for the normal copy from the main website although it's freaking huge(2GB!).

yay for Polish tenacity.

It doesn't bug me that they still a are seeking profit, like every other company. What does stand out is that they deserve kudos for adopting a much wiser customer approach.

This way they please their gamers and consumers. Those will come back because they enjoy the products and service offered, not because they are stuck with something they don't have an option.

This idea completely rocks. Unlike Steam, it can be used through a proxy, so I can use my college's fast-fast-fast connection to get them.

The best part? Most of the games they'll probably have there are the ones I want. Planescape and KotOR are some of the most requested there. If they get them up, I'm buying them.

I tend to love older games. Y'know, the kind that are IMPOSSIBLE to find in shops nowadays. At least, around here. Nowehere sells KotOR, Planescape, Total Annihilation, Mechwarrior 4 (I'm serious), Arcanum, Age of Wonders, Sam and Max, or Outcast. And I never got a chance to play them before they went. There's Amazon, sure, but the last time I tried to buy something (Sam and Max and Day of the Tentacle), they waited a month before telling me that the seller wasn't going to send it over, so sorry, try again next time. I still don't know if they ever gave me back my money.

This way, I can get the games I never played, purchase them, get them almost immediately, then enjoy myself with a minimum of fuss.

Replacing my Mechwarrior 4 disks almost rivaled the search for the holy grail. Took forever to get my order sent over cause they took longer than expected to get them in stock. :(

I'm making it a point to burn a few extra copies as future insurance this time >.>

I still remember when I walked into a Game store and, by complete chance, saw the Dreafall Collector's Edition. Including The Longest Journey.

If I hadn't bought it, I'd never have owned the Longest Journey, because it's not in shops anymore. Pretty sure GOG will have the Longest Journey fairly soon.

Damn, CD Projeckt are unsung heroes! I heard mediocre things about The Witcher, but i'm tempted to try it out now just to say thanks to these people of good common sense.

CD Projekt deserves credit and "Witcher" isn't as "mediocre" as referred to.