CD Projekt Does Witcher 2 DLC Right, Makes It All Free

[Tom Goldman]

CD Projekt Does Witcher 2 DLC Right, Makes It All Free

Every DLC pack CD Projekt releases for Witcher 2 will be 100% free.

Downloadable content has become a point of contention within the videogame industry today, with many feeling that developers and publishers charging for smaller additions to games that would have come for free in the past are nickel-and-diming loyal customers to death. These opponents of the DLC movement will have nothing bad to say about CD Projekt RED's action-RPG Witcher 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Witcher-2-Assassins-Kings-Pc/dp/B003VJNPPE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305390538&sr=8-1], however, as every DLC content release for the game will be made available for free.

The GameStop Facebook page recently held a public Q&A with the developers of Witcher 2 where fans asked how they'd be handling DLC. The reply was: "Let me announce that all our DLCs will be FREE. All of them. If anything will be for purchase, those will be expansion packs."

The responder added that the game's first DLC pack called Troll Trouble will release with Witcher 2 day and date. For free. It's a refreshing change from releases by larger publishers (*cough* Dragon Age [http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Age-Origins-Ultimate-Pc/dp/B0045ZB66I/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1305390730&sr=1-3]) that have asked customers to pay for DLC the day they bring their shiny new game home. To clarify, retailer-exclusive DLC is still retailer-exclusive DLC and won't be made available to every customer at this time.

Witcher 2 will be released for the PC on May 17.

Thanks for the tip Lost in the Void [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Lost+In+The+Void]!

Source: Neoseeker [http://www.facebook.com/GameStop/posts/183259955056946]

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[EonEire]

Your move Bioware.........

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Hmm... considering how they will support it, this is making me want to try The Witcher and seeing if I can enjoy it...

 

[Catchy Slogan]

Goddamnit! Why can't we have this on xbox.

 

[manythings]

Your move Bioware.........

And if people weren't pissed off about that DLC would this be free? Hind sight is 20/20.

OT: How big is it? Or is it just a key you download for an encrypted file? Are you just having trouble with one Troll? And do they just talk about how much the hero sucks wwhile being really racist and homophobic?

 

[SomeLameStuff]

As time goes on, I'm getting more and more pleased that I preordered Witcher 2.

 

[bob1052]

Goddamnit! Why can't we have this on xbox.

If CD Projekt has their way it is on its way to consoles after the PC release but there won't be free DLC if it does. On Xbox at least, Microsoft forces developers to put a price tag on DLC. Team Fortress 2 has no updates still, not because Valve hates the Xbox crowd, but because Microsoft wouldn't allow them to make it free.

 

[Canadish]

Small independent studio produces stunning looking fantasy game, DRM free copies are made available, with all the depth of a classic RPG, and offers free DLC to boot.

Bioware, a much older, larger and more established studio, with the financial backing of EA produced a shoddy, rushed and ugly game, loaded with hidden SecuROM, which they lied about, and overcharged for day 1 DLC.
Yeah, I think the old King has gone a bit mad...
Perhaps its time for the new boys to step up.

 

[teebeeohh]

Goddamnit! Why can't we have this on xbox.

just make us PC gamers buy it and CD project will make a console version. Actually i think they started working on that as soon as they finished the PC version.
btw welcome to my world, i had to wait half a year for every ass cred to come to PC.



OT: i always wondered why the price of DLC never changes, games get cheaper why not make DLC become cheaper after 6 month or so?

 

[water_bearer]

Yes! Finally a developer who understands the incredible WTF that is paid DLC content.
I hate paid DLC, it's the reason I don't buy games when they release anymore. Having to buy a game and then having the developer release "other parts" of the game separately with additional fees is such a swindle. Especially when a year (usually less) down the line the whole shebang gets released in a GOTY edition that is $20 cheaper than the original. It kills the value of buying a game on release...

 

[GiantRaven]

I feel I should buy a copy of The Witcher 2, just to support such a fantastic attitude for a developer to have towards their fans. I don't know if it could even run on my laptop but I feel the deserve my money none the less.

 

[scyther250]

They did say that "expansion packs" wouldn't be free. Could mean that only really small, piddly DLC is free and everything that adds much of anything, like Point Lookout for Fallout 3 or Shadow Broker for ME2, would be "expansion packs" and still not free.

 

[Zoe Castillo]

----

 

[Hitman Dread]

Wow this is so misleading and you guys are eating it up.

There may be free DLC, but you'd likely have more DLC if a price tag was on it. Valve gives out free DLC because for a multiplayer game like Team Fortress, it's a good business decisions, allowing the community to stay large, thus enabling a long shelf life for what would otherwise have stopped selling long ago. Notice how they said they were doing expansion packs, which means that content that would have otherwise been DLC will now be bundled together. You will still end up paying for what you originally were going to, now you just get it all at once.

 

[Callate]

Dear CD Projekt,

If you receive a ticking parcel in the mail from EA, don't open it.

 

[Petromir]

They did say that "expansion packs" wouldn't be free. Could mean that only really small, piddly DLC is free and everything that adds much of anything, like Point Lookout for Fallout 3 or Shadow Broker for ME2, would be "expansion packs" and still not free.

Indeed, theres pleanty of things that have been sold as DLC that in the past may have been priced as full on expansion packs, or kept back and had all the little peices bundled together as full on expansion packs.

Paid DLC can be well done and it can be badly done, as in the ways its handled and priced . Some companies have managed both in the same game.

 

[Azex]

i wasn't planning on getting The Witcher 2 since the 1st one didn't really leave a huge impact on me. but seeing how truely awesome these guys are handling there product i will Deffinatly buy a copy.

CD Projekt are a class act in an increasingly scummy buisness. I hope this shows the rest of the devs how things should be done.

 

[ryo02]

Goddamnit! Why can't we have this on xbox.

If CD Projekt has their way it is on its way to consoles after the PC release but there won't be free DLC if it does. On Xbox at least, Microsoft forces developers to put a price tag on DLC. Team Fortress 2 has no updates still, not because Valve hates the Xbox crowd, but because Microsoft wouldn't allow them to make it free.

screw microsoft the developers should go to magazines and let them put the dlc as a free extra on a demo disc (remember those days?) on the cover if microsoft forces you to pay then go around them they will learn eventually.

 

[Grey_Focks]

I feel like I should really try to get back into the Witcher because of all this. I reeeaaaaally didn't like what I played of it, which was admittedly only a few hours, but all this stuff I keep hearing is making the devs sound like good people. Dunno, will possibly reinstall it, and if they release a demo for witcher 2 I will certainly try it, but I still dunno if I'll like this game.

 

[jim1398]

Your move Bioware.........

And if people weren't pissed off about that DLC would this be free? Hind sight is 20/20.

Probably. CD Projekt have a habbit of taking care of their cusomters instead of just trying to get as much money from them as possible. Just look at the premium edition of The Witcher 2 (more bonuses than most collector's editions but still the same price as a standard edition) or the original game's 'Enhanced Edition' (offered to all owners of the original version for free).

They did say that "expansion packs" wouldn't be free. Could mean that only really small, piddly DLC is free and everything that adds much of anything, like Point Lookout for Fallout 3 or Shadow Broker for ME2, would be "expansion packs" and still not free.

Even if it is just small things that are free, it's still more than most other companies offer.

Notice how they said they were doing expansion packs, which means that content that would have otherwise been DLC will now be bundled together. You will still end up paying for what you originally were going to, now you just get it all at once.

Could I please have a go in the time machine you used to go and check what they offered as DLC and what they offered as expansion packs?