The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered is officially out on PC now, which also means it's available on piracy sites. This isn't a case of a lightning-fast game crack, but rather the inevitability of what happens when a video game is released without digital rights management (DRM) software. For most companies, this piracy scenario would be a nightmare on launch day. CD Projekt Red, however, released a game like this on purpose — and it's earned immense favor with people who might otherwise play without spending a dime.
In communities like Crack Watch, some people are unrepentantly taking the game without paying for it. Most people, however, tell each other to financially support CD Projekt Red and its business practices.
"Honestly CDPR are the most consumer-friendly company around I would encourage everyone to buy it," one top-voted comment said.
"Even the pirates recognize & honor games like these," another said.
"Feels bad to pirate this gem ngl," yet another admitted.
CD Projekt Red's generosity impresses even pirates
Beyond the lack of DRM, pirates point to CD Projekt Red's ongoing generosity toward its fans. When The Witcher 3 was first released, the developer made some DLC completely free. Then, when the studio released paid content, the expansions were hefty yet surprisingly cheap. Players felt like they got a lot of bang for their buck, especially when the base game was already a massive RPG experience.
The developer lost some of this goodwill after the messy release of Cyberpunk 2077. That sour disposition softened after CD Projekt Red spent years reworking the game and releasing strong DLC content. Years later, when the developer announced The Witcher 3 Remastered, the company officially came back into the gaming world's good graces. It helps that, for most people, the new version of the game and its astonishing number of quality-of-life improvements will be a completely free download. And for those who don't have it, pirates would like to remind you that it's still not a good excuse to steal the game.
"I would encourage everyone to buy it there's a 50% sale on right now," one pirate said.
Many say that they won't be downloading the crack because they pirated it before — and the experience was so good that they eventually chose to buy it. Actually, the game has been so heavily discounted before that many pirates are surprised that there are people out there who haven't already bought it.
"IS THERE A SINGLE PERSON on the planet, who doesn't have this in some form?" one pirate wrote. "Like the game is constantly on heavy, like HEAVY discounts."
Even with a discount, buying the game isn't an option for everyone. With the current state of PC gaming, though, some of these folks may not be able to play it anyway.
"Now I just need to be able to pirate a 5080 or better to even run this with the recommended specs," one pirate joked.
Source: Polygon