Gaming The Witcher 2 Interview

We chat with CD Projekt's Tomek Gop about The Witcher 2, piracy and digital distribution.

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2010/12/21/the-witcher-2-interview/1

 

I love reading interviews with people who understand PC gaming. Thanks!

 

^ definately agree

 

Seconded. Can't wait for this to be relased

 

I like those fine gentlemen and ladies.

Preordered my copy through GoG, roll on release!

 

I have no interest in this game in the slightest.

Yet, due to this interview and their stance on DRM, I may buy the game out of pure respect to the developer, and then I guess I can legally and morally gift it to someone who would enjoy it but might not have brought it. This ideal model will never be the future, but I'm glad that it still exists somewhere.

 

CD Projekt sure seems to be on to something here. You'd think it shouldn't be that hard to figure out, but with the list of developers and publishers that jump on the fail-train keeps getting longer. 1, make a good game, 2, no DRM, 3, respect your customers and they will (hopefully) respect you. People have been denied these three simple things for so long that when someone finally does what everyone should do it's an instant win. At least I hope it will be for CD Projekt. This, along with indie devs doing these pay-whatever-you-want-events gives me happy-feelings. There's hope yet, when people pay for something they can get for free, just to show support, and big devs releasing a major title DRM-free, saying "please don't pirate it". I'd like to see that Kotick character make that move...

 

this fellow here made a pretty good case for how important the Witcher 2 will be for PC gaming, enough to persuade me to preorder it through GoG anyway.

http://jedibeeftrix.wordpress.com/2...aa-title-to-be-available-on-release-drm-free/

 

was considering waiting a month or two for price decreases but it a fairly fundemental stage in the history og PC gaming i will buy on release

nice work CD Projekt

 

REMF - from that blog article you linked to:

"The final point that reinforces the first two is the belief of this blogger that PC game piracy in advanced markets such as the US, Europe, and parts of Asia does not materially harm games developers…………………….. because those sales would never have happened anyway!"

That's such a crap rationalization. If the sale wouldn't have happened anyway then there would be no need to pirate it in the first place. It makes zero sense - people pirating it wouldn't be playing it. And yet they will pirate it and they will play it. The truth is people pirate games because they are either pissed off about harmful DRM or are too stinking cheap to buy the game.

There is no excuse anymore. Nothing to rebel against. The developers of Witcher 2 are calling people's bluff. We'll see how the righteous pirates act now. Anyone pirating this game is doing it for one reason only - because they don't want to pay. Full stop.

People who care about PC gaming and want to keep it alive and well had better go out of their way to shun and even attempt to disrupt anyone and everyone who attempts to pirate Witcher 2.

 

this does look absolutely stunning... i never got on with the first Witcher, but i will definitely be giving this a good go!!

 

+ rep to CD Projekt tbh!

I'm looking forward to this, only thing I didn't like about the first was the combat.

 

"That's such a crap rationalization. If the sale wouldn't have happened anyway then there would be no need to pirate it in the first place. It makes zero sense - people pirating it wouldn't be playing it. And yet they will pirate it and they will play it."

not sure i agree with you.

pirates will pirate pretty much anything in the genre they are interested in, whether they do more than treat the pirated game as an open-ended is debatable, whether any of them would seriously have contemplated buying the game even more so.

 

I have already preorder my game though steam looking forward to it..... glad there is no drm people how pirate pc games don't help us pc gamers what so ever. I am one of thoughs people willing to buy a legal copy of any game from a shop or download it from any legal sites like gog or steam etc........

Happy CD Projekt are putting trust in people to go and buy a copy and not to pirate it

 

"I am one of thoughs people willing to buy a legal copy of any game from a shop or download it from any legal sites like gog or steam etc........"

me too, props to CD Project.

 

I feel the same way. I want to buy it just because I like their message. I actually bought The Witcher from steam last night as it was £3.75, will give it a whirl. If I do buy The Witcher 2 it will be direct from GOG.

Good Luck guys, I really hope people don't pirate the **** out of your game.

 

*cough* You do realise that anything bought from Steam has Valve's DRM on it, right? (requires activation every time you play, a Steam account in good order and adherence to Valve's terms and conditions).

Though I welcome the option of a DRM-free release, this is yet another case where purchasers are being asked to pay more for the digital version than the physical (GOG's price of £31.49 compares unfavourably to Amazon.co.uk's price of £24.99 for the Premium Edition - despite GOG's $6/£4 credit to UK buyers). This is despite the savings involved in digital delivery (no discs to press or manuals to print, no postage, storage or warehousing costs and no retailer margins to account for).

Also is it just me or are some of the extras in the Collector's Edition over the top? The statue of Geralt's head seems completely out of place - given his relations with the fairer sex, a statue of his testicles would seem more fitting...

 

"Though I welcome the option of a DRM-free release, this is yet another case where purchasers are being asked to pay more for the digital version than the physical (GOG's price of £31.49 compares unfavourably to Amazon.co.uk's price of £24.99 for the Premium Edition - despite GOG's $6/£4 credit to UK buyers)."


Yeah and Amazon is a huge, evil corporation whereas GOG seems like a game store being run from someones garage. I swear we humans will never learn our lesson. We will keep cutting our own throats. 30 years ago in the community of 100,000 where I live, there were plenty of locally owned shops. Now there are 5 Wal-Marts and not much else. Eventually there will only be precisely two stores in the western world: Wal-Mart and Amazon.

 

After reading the article and playing the Witcher 1 for the first time last night (Thanks Steam Sale) I have pre ordered the Witcher 2. Be nice to play a game specifically developed for the PC for once instead of a console port. Seems to me that Eastern Europe are the only place keeping real PC gaming alive (Not inc Blizzard), Stalker, Metro and this will be the only PC ONLY games I have played in a long time. I miss the halflife 2 and Doom 3 days when the console boys used to look on at PC games in envy.

Side note, got all the HD texture packs working on witcher 1 last night with Steam. Played about 5 hours and loving it. Something i'll sink my teeth into over the holidays.

 

Eastern Europe and Russia I should add