CD Projekt Red Calls off Legal Threats
CD Projekt Red Calls off Legal Threats
Posted 01/15/2012 at 5:59pm
| by Justin Kerr
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CD Projekt Red has called off its witch hunt for…. pirates, and in an open letter to the community is asking for forgiveness. Just in-case you missed the back story, CD Projekt Red is the development studio behind The Witcher 2, and about one month ago, set off on a campaign to hunt down everyone they suspected of pirating the game. Making pirates cough up cash for stolen software sounds reasonable enough; the real controversy was in the tactics they used to collect. Threatening letters asking for money in exchange for legal immunity might have sounded like a great idea to a bunch of cash strapped PC exclusive developers, however in the real world we often give this strategy a different name, extortion.
Here is the full press release:
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.
The Witcher 2 represents the very best PC Gaming has to offer, and not only do we commend CD Projekt Red for realizing they’ve made a mistake, we hope anyone who does pirate the game recognizes a development studio worth supporting.
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KenLV
January 19, 2012 at 6:39pm
Shame. They should have stuck to their guns. Anyone who DIDN'T pirate the game has NO REASON to be anything but PRO-CD Projekt Red. All you lying POSes who say you pirate BECAUSE of DRM have ALWAYS been full of crap – and this is the proof. Here is a company that did it’s damdest to make sure the LEGALLY purchasing public did NOT get their buying and playing experience spoiled by the entitled few but they still get thrashed because they then went after those who stole their product. For those who steal there will ALWAYS be some “justification”.
ShadowGryphon
January 17, 2012 at 11:15am
What CD Projekt Red has done is not extortion.
ex·tor·tion noun 1. an act or instance of extorting. 2. Law . the crime of obtaining money or some other thing of value by the abuse of one's office or authority. 3. oppressive or illegal exaction, as of excessive price or interest: the extortions of usurers. 4. anything extorted.
What they have done is engage in collections from people who owed them money, and as I see it CD Projekt Red needs to follow through instead of pussing out.
Master__shake
January 17, 2012 at 4:17pm
wouldn't demanding money in exchange for protection be considered extortion???
the people who pirated the game aren't being made to pay for the game, they're being made to pay for protection against litigation.
sounds like extortion to me.
ApathyCurve
January 16, 2012 at 7:51am
I can't understand why anyone would pirate it in the first place. Bought The Witcher at a Steam sale and it wasn't even worth the seven bucks I paid for it. Different strokes I suppose, but it did nothing for me.
h e x e n
January 16, 2012 at 5:43am
I approve of Projekt Red. I didn't buy the Witcher 2, mainly because I never finished the first one, but I support their methods and business model when it comes to DRM.
It's not wrong to back out of a mistake you have made, whether it be an individual or an entire company. These guys are legit, and I applaud them for reversing their policies based on community feedback. It's pretty rare these days.
Eoraptor
January 15, 2012 at 11:21pm
Sorry, I can't "commend" anyone for deciding ~after the fact~ to refrain from extortion and blind money grabs. I'm sorry you couldn't be bothered to pay for an investigator to look into websites and individuals who actually WERE stealing your product, but don't come to the community, hat in hand, and expect forgivness for utilizing the same tactics used by the likes of patent trolls and those copyright hounds over at Righthaven.
Danthrax66
January 16, 2012 at 12:28am
Except these people actually were pirating. It would have been a lot worse for those people if they went to court simply asking for money for a game they downloaded and got caught doing isn't bad. It isn't at all difficult to identify torrentors you simply watch the tracker and record IPs. In fact I would rather have it this way.
CaptainFabulous
January 16, 2012 at 7:05am
Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Just because they say they are pirates doesn't mean they are. I'm with the others on this. Too little too late.
I also see there is no mention of them refunding all the extorition money they've collected.
DoctorX
January 16, 2012 at 5:42pm
Actually you are wrong. Innocent until proven guilty is only in criminal cases. In civil tort cases, it is guilty until proven innocent. In criminal cases, the burden of proof is on the prosecution. In civil court cases the burden of proof of innocence in on the accused.
Messed up i know, but that is how it has always been.
Danthrax66
January 16, 2012 at 12:50pm
Right but this is basically a settlement. Saying we can take you to court and go through a trial to try to prove you did and you can try to prove you didn't do it; or you can just pay for the game and we won't come after you. This honestly just sounds like a settlement to avoid actual court cases which would include a lot harsher punishement for any caught. And based on previous court rulings it is kind of hard to win against content devs. If I was legitemitaly caught torrenting that game I would gladly pay the price of the game to avoid court, and if you didn't do it then you can not pay them and actually go through with the court case which is what would have happened anyway. The fact of the matter is a lot of people torrented this game, and when they got caught they started to claim it was extorsion instead of pay for what they already have.
Also just looked up the definition and extorsion requires the threat of violence, not the threat that we will take this to court if we have to. " Extortion (also called shakedown, outwresting, and exaction) is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person(s), entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime groups. The actual obtainment of money or property is not required to commit the offense. Making a threat of violence which refers to a requirement of a payment of money or property to halt future violence is sufficient to commit the offense. Exaction refers not only to extortion or the unlawful demanding and obtaining of something through force,[1] but additionally, in its formal definition, means the infliction of something such as pain and suffering or making somebody endure something unpleasant. "
I'm pretty sure the lawyers that came up with this plan are a lot more intelligent than the community when it comes to things like this, CD projekt just felt like it wasn't worth continueing since the gaming community is filled with people that either don't understand or completely ignore the law. Regardless of your stance on piracy it is illegal and these people should be dealt with. I would love to see them sue everyone they caught instead, even though they were trying to avoid that.
Eoraptor
January 18, 2012 at 12:24am
Threat of actual, psychologically harmful and financially crippling litigation is indeed a threat of violence. Because not only are you brought before a judge, as well as anyone present in the court room, but your name is also in the paper, on the radio, and on the internet as a matter of public record. Meaning from now on, any potential employer, creditor, or other party running a background check will see your name associated with civil trial charges, even if you are NOT convicted. That is legitimate harm done to your person by another party.
Just because it doesn't involve fists and lead pipes and pistols does not make it NOT extortion. You could call it blackmail, if you feel so strongly that it's NOT EXTORTION... but it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.
CaptainFabulous
January 16, 2012 at 3:31pm
Um yes, that's EXACTLY why it's extortion. "Just pay us this sum up front and we won't take you to court where you'll surely lose and owe us millions even if you're innocent". People pay not because they're guilty, but because the chance of being found guilty even if you're not is astronomical. It is indeed extortion. With little to no proof they accuse you of guilt and then coerce you into admitting your guilt and paying them a "settlement", otherwise they'll sick their lawyers on you. How is this NOT extortion?
In simpler terms, PAY us or we THREATEN to take you court. It's a money grab that preys upon the real fear of an unfair judicial system, pure and simple. Which is highly unpleasant and I'm sure would cause anyone emotional pain and suffering, especially if you don't have $2500 lying around.
Lawyers are very smart at dreaming up ways of extracting money out of people. Doesn't make it right, or even legal. Just ask Righthaven's lawyers who are currently up for disbarment due to how "smart" they thought they were.
Scatter
January 16, 2012 at 12:45pm
You mean innocent until a lawyer can convince a jury that you're guilty. Just like a fingerprint at a crime scene a matched IP isn't 100% proof of a crime but it's still pretty damning to a person claiming that he was never even there at all.
mhouston100
January 15, 2012 at 9:50pm
So they do the wrong thing, then appologize and we are supposed to respect them?
I would respect a company that does the right thing from the get-go more...
Scatter
January 16, 2012 at 12:48pm
Because you're perfect and never make rash decisions?
I respect them more for their realizing that they may have made a mistake then I would have if they didn't admit it and just kept repeating the mistake.
Danthrax66
January 16, 2012 at 12:30am
Technically this is the right thing, if they went through with an actual lawsuit those pirates could pay thousands instead they are just asking for the price of the game and they will call it off. That sounds resonable to me. And if you didn't do it then provide proof and you are good.
CaptainFabulous
January 16, 2012 at 3:33pm
Last I checked they had to prove me guilty, not the other way around.
The Corrupted One
January 15, 2012 at 9:36pm
Ahh piss, I wanted for some pirates to get their comeuppance.
TsunamiZ
January 15, 2012 at 8:16pm
The main problem I have with Witcher 2 is the unforgivable amount of input lag for mouse and keyboard. This was a widely reported problem and they still have not fixed it as of version 2.0. This problem can be partly improved by disabling vsync--but then the screen tearing that result is even worse! The controls and programing side was definitely the worst part of the game. The game is not worth all the rave reviews because of this unresolved problem.
austin43
January 15, 2012 at 9:24pm
I just played it with a controller but yeah for a PC exclusive (until console versions come out) this is pretty unacceptable.
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