Posted on January 26, 2012, Mark Burnham Witcher 2 Devs on Piracy & DRM: “We Actually Trust People”

Context: Earlier this week I attended a preview event for the forthcoming Xbox 360 version of The Witcher 2, which was originally released in 2011 as a PC-exclusive. Coming to XBox 360 on April 17, it’s a dark, visually-stunning and challenging RPG, and console gamers are lucky this is happening (read my hands-on to see why, you lucky bastards).

I caught up with two gentlemen from CD Projekt at the event, Marek Ziemak (Level Artist) and Macief Szczesnik (Lead Combat Designer) to talk about the console translation, and the topic of piracy came up. Because I asked about it. Check out their response below, it’s pretty good.

And I have say, even though CD Projekt’s anti-DRM stance and “trust people” attitude isn’t a new thing, it’s still refreshing to hear it again here. Hooray for game developers trying to make their products extra good so people buy them, instead of building elaborate (read: easily cracked) DRM schemes that irritate legitimate gamers.

Game Front: Did Witcher 2′s estimated 4.5 million illegal downloads on PC influence the decision to bring the game to the Xbox 360?

Marek Ziemak: I don’t think so. We started to be DRM-free on PC. We believe people will buy the game anyway. We provide a lot of great content in the box, also in the digital version. You know, piracy is going to be there, always, in all the platforms–because it’s also possible to play pirated versions on the Xbox [360]. But it’s not our main concern. There are a lot of players who buy the game, who enjoy it really, and who try and be fair. .

Maciej Szczesnik: As far as I know, there are pirates who play the game, and also bought the game.

MZ: So we try and deliver all the extra content for everyone who bought the game. That’s also another reason to have an original copy–to have all the patches, and all the DLC that are free if you bought the game. We try to be fair; we try to work on our products. And we actually trust people. We believe that the great majority will just buy the game.

MS: And not cheat us.

This is an excerpt from our full Witcher 2 Xbox 360 video interview. Check it out.