Witcher Franchise Sales Almost Match Illegal Downloads

[Timothy Chang]

Witcher Franchise Sales Almost Match Illegal Downloads

CD Projekt's DRM-free philosophy apparently doesn't hold back high sales.

People have taken a liking to the monster-slaying, potion-brewing, lady-wooing Geralt of Rivia, and there are numbers to prove it. The Witcher franchise has moved more than 4 million units worldwide, according to a statement issued by developer CD Projekt RED.

The figure covers both The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and includes PC, Mac, and Xbox 360 sales. Adam Badowski, head of CD Projekt RED, is certainly pleased with the numbers, stating that he is "still amazed with the result" of having the games go quadruple platinum. The White Wolf now has its sights set on the land of the rising sun; The Witcher 2 will arrive in Japan for Xbox 360 gamers on August 23rd. Mac owners will also be able to play The Witcher 2 later this year.

The sales volume is definitely impressive, and close to matching the illegal download estimates made in late 2011. CEO Marcin Iwinski surmised that The Witcher franchise had been pirated about 4.5 million times [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114429-The-Witcher-2-Pirated-Roughly-4-5-Million-Times-Says-Dev], and further admitted that "the reality is probably way worse".

In spite of this, the company continues to have a firm anti-DRM stance, and it demanding fines of €1,000 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/86403-CD-Projekt-Encourages-Industry-To-Go-DRM-Free] for illegally downloading the game.

It's great to see such a positive result for a company that's taking a position other developers would consider risky. We'll see if this mentality continues to yield more positive results for its future releases.

Permalink

 

[saintdane05]

So wait, the fact that the game was pirated more than it was purchased at one point means that the company isn't changing policies? I'm against DRM as much as everyone else (I don't care if a game has it though), but isn't that really, really stupid?

 

[ScatterBen]

RE: the future Mac release of the Witcher 2

So does this mean that my physical copy of The Witcher 2, currently installed on my Windows partition, will also work on my Macbook Pro without anything required of me, except to install it again? Or will I need to buy another copy/uninstall it from Windows first?

Sorry I don't know this stuff, I'm hardly a PC "Gamer" - I just play the odd game on my Mac when I can.

 

[grigjd3]

So wait, the fact that the game was pirated more than it was purchased at one point means that the company isn't changing policies? I'm against DRM as much as everyone else (I don't care if a game has it though), but isn't that really, really stupid?

Other games are pirated just as much.

 

[Something Amyss]

I can't believe the Escapist is still running with this dishonesty about the piracy figures, which he admitted were an asspull.

So wait, the fact that the game was pirated more than it was purchased at one point means that the company isn't changing policies? I'm against DRM as much as everyone else (I don't care if a game has it though), but isn't that really, really stupid?

No, the fact that the game has managed to still sell despite high piracy figures means the company won't change policies. Which is crap, since those numbers weren't even close to true. In order to gt 4.5 million pirated copies, they would have had to have outpirated COD, Battlefield, and FarCry. And the reality? "Probably worse."

Regardless, 4.5 million sales is still quite good for the franchise.

 

[Baresark]

So wait, the fact that the game was pirated more than it was purchased at one point means that the company isn't changing policies? I'm against DRM as much as everyone else (I don't care if a game has it though), but isn't that really, really stupid?

No amount of DRM would have stopped that game from being pirated, as it does not stop any game from being pirated. But it does piss consumers off. They are taking the stance that since it does not stop piracy, enacting some sort DRM will only serve to infuriate their paying customers. I would not be surprised if a great many titles were pirated more than they sold at first. You can't stop it, so worry about the only people that matter, which should be your paying customers. All of the layers of fruitless DRM that appear on games these days, all it does is let the paying customer know they play second fiddle to the guy who wanted the game for free.

There is also the element here and now that shows that even though it was pirated a whole lot at first, it has not stopped the lifetime sales of the game from increasing dramatically.

 

[DTWolfwood]

don't forget that its actually a good game lol

Love their business model but if the game sucked it wouldn't have mattered. so gj and keep making quality games

 

[fix-the-spade]

What I really, really want to know is what the exact and presumably ongoing costs/savings CD Projekt are experiencing without using DRM. Not having a license agreement to support or the need of staff to fix the bugs must be saving them a large amount of money.

So wait, the fact that the game was pirated more than it was purchased at one point means that the company isn't changing policies? I'm against DRM as much as everyone else (I don't care if a game has it though), but isn't that really, really stupid?

Not really, even the most intrusive DRM systems have the sum-total of no effect on piracy.
Whilst their games have been pirated more than downloaded, so was Spore, Bioshock and Assassin's Creed 2, all of which included complicated (and expensive) DRM systems.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I can't believe the Escapist is still running with this dishonesty about the piracy figures, which he admitted were an asspull.

To paraphrase Uncle Chop-chop, "never let the truth get in the way of good copy."

No, the fact that the game has managed to still sell despite high piracy figures means the company won't change policies.

Also, ask anyone who follows this sort of thing closely and they can tell you it wasn't the GOG.com DRMless version that was the source for the wide spread 'scene' pirate releases - most of those were cracked Steam versions.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I do if they don't change their policies, I would be really sad if they jumped on the fucking DRM-bandwagon, because that would really suck.

Not going to happen under the current ownership/management. They've already come out and said for future CD Projekt RED titles they're going to avoid 3rd party distributors who use DRM where possible. The question there is whether they have the balls to do that, especially in regards to digital distribution and Steam.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Not really, even the most intrusive DRM systems have the sum-total of no effect on piracy.

You need that AND a game bugger all people want to play for it to have an impact on piracy. See: HAWX 2.

 

[Richardplex]

So wait, the fact that the game was pirated more than it was purchased at one point means that the company isn't changing policies? I'm against DRM as much as everyone else (I don't care if a game has it though), but isn't that really, really stupid?

Witcher 2 is a graphically intensive game - likely a lot of the piracy was a stress test, Crysis 2 has a high piracy rate for the same reason.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Love their business model but if the game sucked it wouldn't have mattered.

I dunno, the fact that the pre-Enhanced Edition of The Witcher 1 was close to unplayable didn't seem to hurt them that much... although kicking out the EE as a megapatch (same as they did for 2) won CDP a lot of goodwill.

 

[Quiotu]

This makes me happy, as CDP is one of the few companies out there that really knows how to keep its fans content in this day and age. Between the Witcher series and GOG, they have a loyal fanbase that's quickly rivaling Valve.

I'm still patiently waiting for more info about this CyberPunk 2020 game they're working on.

 

[FantomOmega]

The bastard Investors will STILL moan that even though they're making a HUGE profit they will still say "but if the game had DRM we could get even MORE money!"

 

[theultimateend]

Witcher 2 has quite obviously not been pirated 4.5 million times, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't had it's fair share of piracy.

I do if they don't change their policies, I would be really sad if they jumped on the fucking DRM-bandwagon, because that would really suck.

About Witcher 2, I find it...lacking, in some way. Despite it almost being made to be replayed two times, I just couldn't bring myself to finish the game the second time (I was still stuck in the stupid Kaedweni camp, and gods was it boring).

If they did I'd stop buying their games.

Which would mean they tried to address a fake loss and ended up with a real one.

The last kind of DRM I'm willing to accept is Steam, anything more than that and its a no-buy. I'm not willing to have less of a fun time because some investor somewhere thinks that each pirated copy is a lost sale.

I doubt even a % of pirated copies are lost sales. Because if this sort of thing was the case the gaming industry would be dead. It's being killed by bad management and overbloated budgets in some areas, but not by much else.

So wait, the fact that the game was pirated more than it was purchased at one point means that the company isn't changing policies? I'm against DRM as much as everyone else (I don't care if a game has it though), but isn't that really, really stupid?

Witcher 2 is a graphically intensive game - likely a lot of the piracy was a stress test, Crysis 2 has a high piracy rate for the same reason.

Nah dude. If the game didn't run at all I'd just take it back and get a refu...

Oh. Oh right. You can't do that.

"But minimum and recommended specs on box!" Almost never give an accurate idea of how it'll play. I've hit recommended specs on quite a few titles and they ended up being turds in terms of frame rates and visuals acuity.

Buuuut these days it's not an issue for me personally, got a bonus and did the full American thing where I spent it all on a nice PC.

The sales volume is definitely impressive, and close to matching the illegal download estimates made in late 2011. CEO Marcin Iwinski surmised that The Witcher franchise had been pirated about 4.5 million times [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114429-The-Witcher-2-Pirated-Roughly-4-5-Million-Times-Says-Dev], and further admitted that "the reality is probably way worse".

Pretty solid lie.

I am guessing that he's one of those people who thinks computers make all those Sci-Fi sounds when they are loading things like they do in the movies.