Why I won't support CD Projekt ever again

[Jagos]

Like many people, I enjoy companies that think outside the box. Gog made me a customer by saying they won't support DRM. This was a great thing from them, showing that maybe I was supporting a good business decision on their part.

Then the other shoe fell. While CD Projekt is saying they won't harm their customers, they are doing something much worse. A copyright shakedown.

“Yes we will track illegal file-sharing hoping people will find the game good enough to actually change their mind and be willing to pay for it,” CD Projekt’s Agnieszka Szostak told us earlier.

Although this initially sounded quite reasonable, away from the spotlight the company followed in the footsteps of so-called copyright trolls, by signing up for a so-called “pay-up-or-else” scheme. CD Projekt hired a law firm and torrent monitoring company to track those who illegally downloaded and shared the game, and has been sending them hefty cash settlement proposals.

The price CD Projekt is asking through their lawyers is slightly higher than what gamers have to pay in stores, to say the least. Over the past several months thousands of alleged BitTorrent users in Germany were asked to cough up 911,80 euros ($1230) to pay off their apparent debt to the company.

So CD Projekt is suing innocent bystanders and potential customers because they want an instant payout. Quite frankly, they're acting as if pirates cost them more than making a real game and keeping it updated. It's also downright hypocritical given that they've said they support filesharing. This does not support filesharing. It also does nothing but piss people off as they hear the story.

I will not be putting money into Gog.com no matter how good the games are. Once I finish the games I've been playing, I'll probably look into starting my PSP collection and just use that for videos or something. Otherwise, Gog has really hurt their message with me.

[Osterbaum]

Can someone explain the logic behind having to pay 900€ for pirating a game that when bought new costs 50€ again?

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Other than making an example a shitload of money they'll probably mostly use for paying their shitty lawfirm I don't see any.

[Azisien]

Part of it is probably paying for the tracking and law firms. Plus some extra profit because PC pirates are the scum of the Earth. Except in the countries where game prices are ludicrous. Then they are more like common household pests.

[Ramary]

Originally Posted by Azisien

Plus some extra profit because PC pirates are the scum of the Earth.

That is a bit of a harsh generalization is it not?

[Osterbaum]

I'm guessing it's sarcastic.

Part of it is probably paying for the tracking and law firms.

Sure I realize that. The question was more of a rethorical one, because even if we said that piracy is the same as stealing the product, then what you really owe is those 50€ and not near a 1000€.

[Aerozord]

because the company cannot catch all the people that steal from them, so they try to get as much as possible from those that they do catch. Most likely making the argument that the only reason these X number could pirate it, is because said person put it up for torrenting to begin with. If so then you are being punished for facilitating a crime rather then enacting it.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Which is always fun if you can prove that your are a filthy leecher who always sets his upload traffic to 1 kbps and you could only upload a completely worthless fraction of what you're stealing. Of course no one ever cares.

[Osterbaum]

Fair. Of course we all knew that already. This is basically another example of how money, and those with money, rule the world.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Jagos

So CD Projekt is suing innocent bystanders and potential customers because they want an instant payout.

Everyone is a "potential customer," making that particular catch-phrase absolutely meaningless.

What evidence do you have that "innocent bystanders" have been impacted by this, or is that merely your assumption?

Quite frankly, they're acting as if pirates cost them more than making a real game and keeping it updated.

No, they're acting as if pirates downloaded a game without paying it, helping others to download it without paying in the process, and that they've been screwed out of some money. They need money to continue making games, and if they want to maintain their anti-DRM stance they need to find a way to go against those who pirate their games.

It's also downright hypocritical given that they've said they support filesharing. This does not support filesharing.

I'm pretty sure when they said, "We support filesharing," they did not mean, "We support piracy." Unless you have any evidence that filesharing The Completely Free & Totally Legal to Fileshare Adventures of Professor Winsington will make you a target for CD Projekt thinking you stole a completely different and not free game called Witcher 2, I don't find this hypocritical in the slightest.

It also does nothing but piss people off as they hear the story.

I'm not particularly pissed off, so you're making the assumption that everyone will feel the same way you do.