I think considering how often CDP spoke out against DRM and that witcher 2 won't come wih DRM nearly everyone took it for granted.

The fast removal of DRM signifies something far more sinister. Some of the more perceptive of you might already have guessed as the truth. Let me go over this clearly for those still struggling with putting it all together:

First, DRM is broken before digital distribution release, rendering it useless.
Next, comparisons are made showing that the DRM has a much greater impact on performance than expected.

Now you are probably thinking that the proper response is to continue to insist that the DRM is working. If so congratulations, you think like a sane, red-blooded human being.

However that is not what CDPR did. In a shocking move, they removed the DRM simply because it was not stopping copyright infringement yet was hurting those that were willing to work within the system. This is not the behavior of a company run by our fellow human brothers and sisters. Rather, it is the behavior of an alien intelligence we can scarcely comprehend and that has little regard for how things are done on this great planet of ours. God's favorite planet.

So then what do they want? Our women? Our brains? I do not know. I know only one thing: This serves as a warning to all of us. And when the day of reckoning comes we will either have heeded that warning or all we love will be lost.

.

They were very up front about the DRM, and went over it in detail in their press conference. Not to mention the well publicized fact that the GoG verion would be the *only* version without DRM of any sort.

In the end the publishers must have been totaly idiotic thinking putting DRM in their versions while gog releases an unprotected game makes any difference concerning pirates.

Ah ok. So in the end they make a fuss about no DRMs but still pay the SecuROM fee... That sure is better than having the DRMs on all versions, but has room for improvement (maybe for TW3? ^^).

Indeed :D

I don't know.... They said they would using DRM. they DIDN'T say it would be SecuROM until just shortly before the game release at the press conference you mentioned. Before that announcement I thought it would be similar to the disk check DRM like in Witcher 1 and they never even hinted at the Sony Satanic DRM. That said, I think they've paid the price in terms of bad PR, having to remove the DRM it in the first week of publishing so people no longer had to hack their install with leaked GOG versions to improve the FPS and so forth. My hope is that other game developers like Bethseda will take heed of this. EA/Bioware I've lost all hope for;I strongly suspect they have a long term deal with Sony, which may explain why they lied about use of SecuROM (they avoid outright violation of a court order by using the subclass grey area), especially as the promised no intrusive DRM in DA2 and then did a full 180 degree turn on that. After that outright betryal, I'm done with EA/Bioware and worse, they were VERY unapologetic on the subject of misleading (lie is legally a SMALL stretch but technically it still was SecuROM). People seem to be pushing boundries to test how much we'll take. This experience I hope gave CDPR the data they need not to do this again. I'm not convinced CDPR knew how bad the performance loss would be (wonder what secuROM was doing to need so many CPU cycles...)

Those sorts of decisions are often in flux until late in the game. They may have been shopping around, looking for the best fit. They may not have had anything to do with the decision. That they announced beforehand they would be using DRM is frankly better than a lot of companies that will try and stealth it through. But they were upfront about the decision prior to the release, and went over the specific of what they would be using in detail.

I don't like Securom any more than you. That's why when the company provided me with an option to avoid it, I jumped at it. But it would have been very difficult to be uninformed about the situation going in, had anyone done the slightest research. If it is a matter that concerns you, and you dont make any effort to investigate, I have no sympathy.

So let's sum up:

1) Company clearly states beforehand that some versions of the game will be using DRM (probably without a choice in the matter), what DRM they will be using, and why.

2) Company provides an alternative to purchase the game without DRM of any kind.

3) Company responds quickly to reports of problems, and strips problematic DRM from every copy of the game that contains it. Gives pre release DLC away for free to people who wouldn't have otherwise had it.


Nobody likes to have problems with a game they bought, even though it's inevitable that some people will. But considered in the entire spectrum of triple A game releases, I'm at a loss to see how you can see a foul here.

maybe CDP should try and find out just who leaked it to the pirates at the source ?

some emplyee must have given it out in the first place,find,sack and sue the culprit before W3

Still they decided to go with maybe the worst copy protection.

Securom is prone to incompatibility and is known for causing problems.

You need to connect to the internet and only 5 installed copies are allowed.

I just ask myself why there's a performance impact if it is said to only check the disc once and then it should be able to be played offline, as it seems securom is checking and checking the whole time you play this game.

You are assuming I didn't look/research. In fact I did. Only learned about it about 1.5 months before the release if I remember correctly. I consider that kind of last minute for a project that takes years to do. Also, CDPR public statement a year ago and history suggested they wouldn't use something as bad as SecuROM. Its not that I objected to the use of DRM (witcher 1 had DRM but it was not Internet based so I Was cool with it) But they actually went on record about how bad DRM is for everyone a year before. When one goes from that to SecuROM, (the most controversal DRM in gaming history) it makes you wonder.

I'll give CDPR credit for giving a (mostly) DRM-free option. Remember DLC and patches were originally in-game downloader only (comment from another poster apparnetly working with GOG indicated that was the intent), meaning Internet connection on installed PC required to get "free" DLC and probability patches...equals lite-DRM...kindda sneaky there as well and I'm not the only one to say so). Only now with all the bugs and failure of the in-game downloader/installer did that change. Otherwise even GOG buyers would have had to wait for potentially months before patches were put into the latest gog builds. Many have called this a bit of a sneaky way to stick DRM in a non-DRM version of the game. In any case all the DRM applied, announced or otherwise has backfired. Hopefully a lesson for all.

The DRM did its job in that it prevented zero day piracy - the most damaging kind. CD Projekt have done what most games companies should do, which is remove DRM when it serves no further purpose. As soon as the GOG version released the DRM became redundant.

Kudos to CD Projekt for removing the DRM. The only thing is now I almost wished I'd bought retail so I could have got the physical goodies. The main reason I bought the GOG version was because it was DRM free. The retail copy would have been significantly cheaper too.

How's that? Here in North America, it was $5 USD less to get it on GOG, and get a free GOG game (I got a nice substitution since I already had all the games they originally offered). That said, I'm not convined the DRM did anything except annoy and cost us. there were leaked copies from Day one, and frankly the cost in irritation to buyers who risked being the first to own it via DVD copy, the work of having to remove it...the whole fiasco probably hurt more than helped. Those of us who like their work were buying it anyway. Especially GOG users. A game developer was quoted as saying it takes at most 2 days for crackers to bypass DRM. It doens't work. And it created so many problems for the legit buyers of the DVD edition. It likely cost CDPR more than they saved, and I'm fairly sure they know it. I'll credit CDPR with removing it, but even though hindsight is 20/20, they said publically a year ago how DRM hurts customers. They really didn't need to prove it by demonstrating on their own customers. Many people felt hurt and betrayed by that.

You would have to be online to download DLC and patches anyway, so I see no point here. Publishers dont send that stuff out on floppies anymore, and havent for more than a decade. TW2 launcher is not "DRM-lite", unless you misunderstand what DRM is. Not all copy protection is DRM in the way we have come to identify it. Nearly all games have some form of token copy protection, and pretty much always have had. TW2 launcher doesnt run in the background scanning your system, inhibit you from installing the game wherever or whenever you want, prevent you from activating the game, or require you to be online to play the game.

As I've told CDRP directly, My gaming/test XP box stays off the Internet for security reasons. All my stuff downloaded is stored on my Linux file server and scanned before transfering to the XP box to avoid corrupting my clean, fast XP install. Also, download servers all go offline eventually. Most of us would like to be able to keep our purchases without worrying about it dying when the company decides to shut its door. I know very well what DRM is. Fact: Any form of dependency on an external resource owned by the company to function when the game is single player has no other purpose but to act as DRM. When they take the servers offline or remove your individual access to them (as EA/Bioware did with DA2) you have no access to required components to play it. (This can include patches for serious bugs) Simple. Inability to get required patches is functionally DRM. You seem very quick to defend Internet based DRM schemas which is interesting given how badly this one played out. Most people couldn't even get to the DLC or patches save by manual download.

PS: you are in fact incorrect about nearly all game having DRM. Do more research in gaming outside of the mainstream super hyped media and you'll find them. Particularly the indie channels. There are MANY games (and many run in Linux FYI, of commercial grade) wth no DRM. most (if not all) Flash based games out there have no DRM either. I know this because I've purchased and tested them. Top ones that come to mind: Amnesia, Penumbra, Mechanium, World of Goo, Stitch in Time, and many others.

Oh man, I read StarForce earlier in the thread. I absolutely hate Starforce. That's possibly the worse DRM I have ever had to deal with. I literally could not get past that shart to play my game - that I received from my cousin because he said he couldn't play it - and after much frustration, I just threw the box out.

Starforce is the DEVIL.

THE DEVIL.