Studio drops legal threats but asks players to not tolerate illegal downloads
CD Projekt has taken a grass-roots approach to combating piracy by asking its customers to raise awareness of the economic dangers of illicit filesharing.
The new method to tackle piracy is a volte-face from its short-lived and notorious process of issuing legal threats.
In December the Witcher developer was found to be contacting people who were believed to be playing pirated copies of its games. In at least one case, the Polish group sought $1,230 from an individual alleged to be playing pirated material.
But in an open letter to its community, issued this week, CD Projekt promised it will immediately cease identifying and contacting pirates.
“We value our fans, our supporters, and our community too highly to take the chance that we might ever falsely accuse even one individual,” the group said.
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“We were sorry to see that many gamers felt that our actions didn't respect the faith that they have put into CD Projekt. 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.”
CD Projekt said its position on piracy is unchanged, however.
“Let's make this clear: we don't support piracy,” said the studio’s co-founder Marcin Iwinski.
“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.”
Iwinski (pictured) said the company was “doing our part” in maintaining a relationship with fans, but asked for help in return.
“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.”
You can still contact them, just thank them for playing the game, tell them you hope they are enjoying it and could really do with their help in making the game better. Send them a link to some community forum where they can discuss what will make the game better, talk about why they love the game, share screenshots and so on.
And before you know it they'll be a convert to a paying customer. Just like that!
You can make it as simple as, "stop pirating games." Or you (consumers and game devs) can look at the big picture and consider the various reasons games are pirated in the first place. Don't deceive yourself, there are many reasons why. This is not to condone it in any way, just know for many people it's not such an arbitrary decision. Don't force complex situations into simple solutions or you will never truly solve your own problem.
Too much for one comment. But many know exactly what I'm talking about even if they won't admit it to themselves.
1. Consumers often wonder, production cost vs. final price. Is it reasonable? Fair? How do we know? At what point (price range) am I being duped? This is a frequent question and conflict in our economy whenever consumer and producer seek a fair deal.
2. "I can't afford the 50-60 dollar game, certainly not every one that comes out. If piracy weren't an option I simply wouldn't be able to play at all and surely wouldn't share my gameplay experiences with other people who may have the money to purchase it. Either way, they wouldn't get my money." This isn't always the case but is true for many people on a tight budget.
3. Many don't supply any demo version whatsoever. How do I know this is something I even want? How do I know I won't be disappointed or misguided by cool looking CGI trailers? There are very few products these days you can't try before you buy or that you can't return if not satisfied. Games are one of them, except for those that do produce demo's. Commendable. I can't even recall how many games I've purchased and been more than disgruntled about because I was misled. Or in the case of the 60 dollar up front cost of All Points Bulletin by Realtime Worlds and the disguised pay-to-play cost, then afterward going bankrupt, you get screwed. Now they laugh in my face. They got my 60-70 bucks and ran. Now it's free to play unless you have money for a 60 dollar gun that took no more than a few hours to model and match physics to an already existing weapon. I would never purchase anything from a company named Realtime Worlds again. But it won't matter, they will open up shop under a new name I won't recognize. I'm not saying they did this maliciously. But that doesn't change the fact I paid 60 bucks for a game that I got to play for a few days.
The end of 2011 proved to be a disgrace for many game companies struggling or otherwise. Releasing games before they were ready while consumers paid full price as if it was the final product. Then having to wait until the 8th update to play what was the equivalent of the finished game. That's if they're lucky. What is going on in the gaming industry when consumers become testers of a product they purchased? Releasing a product before completion for full price is not only absolutely wrong, it's fraudulent. Do you purchase toilet paper at the store advertised as wrapped around the roll but find that they ran out of time so you're just SOL? Who regulates fair business practices in the gaming industry? What agency? I know of none. As far as I know it is internally regulated with some sort of rating system. Even the BBB (Better Business Bureau) is a joke half the time, charging meager fines for violations.
Ubisoft DRM forcing online connections for single player games. Lacking consideration for the individuals who have little to no internet connections available in their region or can't afford the extra cost. Arbitrary decisions made to punish those involved with piracy that end up instead punishing your faithful customers.
Shame on the gaming industry. You are fostering notions of piracy all on your own with no outside help. Look inward before pointing fingers outward.
3. An example of something I hear every now and then, "You want a nice car but you probably wouldn't steal one. Yet you want a game and you do." Poor, poor comparison. First off, one is an animate object and the other is data in 0's and 1's. Second, a vehicle costs a lot more than 40-60 bucks as the standard of most non indie games. I really don't care if the example is a loaf of bread.
Piracy is the quicksand to the gaming industry, illegal, and wrong. But if the gaming industry spent as much time building bridges as they do threatening with new counter measures against piracy, both producer and consumer would be a hell of a lot better off. Spend more money solving internal problems and coming up with solutions, not punishments, before paying lawyers to prosecute. I rest my case.
