There have been no bigger opponents of the PC world’s anti-piracy practices than that of Witcher developer CD Projekt Red. Now we hear even more from the developer on why they’re so against its implementation throughout the industry.
In a recent interview, Michal Platkow-Gilewski made no bones about why DRM is so infective…as he feels it simply doesn’t work at all! “…We don’t believe in DRM because we hate DRM. It also doesn’t protect, not really. Games are cracked in minutes, hours, or days, but they’re always cracked. If you want to pirate you’ll find a way. But if you’re a committed gamer and are buying the game why should we place a barrier on you?” Michal asks.
Another controversial stance he’s taken (one I’m sure gamers would love other studios to take notice of) is on small, simple DLC being given away absolutely FREE! “…with DLC, it’s small content.” Says Michal, “Like one-thousandth of the whole game. Why should you charge for that? If it’s small, give it for free. I know it’s not always possible or easy but this is what we want to give gamers; a little bit of love, which we’d like to get from other developers as gamers ourselves.”
But has DRM ever truly worked in our industry, or has it been nothing more than an albatross from the very start? Tune in tomorrow as I dig a bit deeper into the topic.