In a time where anything that isn't the start of the game or the end credits is susceptible for being stripped from a game and re-sold as DLC, one company has decided to stand up against these vile practices and have championed for gamers with free DLC, free patches and tons of updates. That company is CD Projekt RED and they've recently stated that gamers are being overcharged for DLC.
In an interview with VG 24/7 [via Attack of the Fanboy], CD Projekt RED's Konrad Tomaszkiewicz talks about DLC, expansion packs and content for a proper value, saying...
"We’ve always believed in free DLCs," ... "The thing is that we consider DLCs as a normal post sale service, which shouldn’t be priced. Back when retail games were dominant, we had expansion packs. These were really large chunks of content, which were worth their price.""If today’s DLCs offered the same amount of content, they would be worth paying for, but in most cases players think they are overcharged for what they receive," ... "That’s why we offer expansions to our game for free. This is also a way of saying 'thank you' to the people who decided to buy our game instead of copying it from an unauthorized source."
I think CD Projekt has gone over and beyond any developer this generation with their consumer policies. Just, wow oh wow. And let me clarify that this company doesn't just offer free DLC, they offered Witcher 2 owners 10 gigabytes worth of free content when the Enhanced Edition launched earlier this year. That's unprecedented for any other game studio.
However, the reason CD Projekt is so keen on giving away free content to loyal consumers is because it's their way to fight piracy, by celebrating their fanbase and having their fanbase celebrate the company by spreading the good word. CD Projekt even has a good rep among pirates, who regularly take to the peer-to-peer forums and promote and encourage gamers to actually buy a legitimate copy of The Witcher games to support CD Projekt. You know you've achieved superstar status in the game community when pirates want to see you succeed.
CD Projekt is doing the opposite of companies like EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard and Microsoft who use intrusive forms of DRM to stop piracy. CD Projekt is also doing the opposite of these companies when it comes to DLC, they're not nickel-and-diming people by having gamers pay $5 for something that probably would have been an in-game unlockable during the PS2 era.
I'd just like to add that by all means, gamers aren't being entitled or whiny if the very things they're complaining about are things that CD Projekt is openly saying are detrimental to gaming culture. I'm glad CD Projekt has broken the trend of the PR shenanigans that other publishers use to force-feed their entitlement onto consumers, as if gamers should be happy to be overcharged for crap and nickel-and-dimed at every turn with microtransactions on top of a $60 purchase.
The Witcher 2 has managed to move more than 4 million copies across the Xbox 360 and PC, that's not bad for company that isn't considered AAA. At present CD Projekt RED is hard at work on the upcoming RPG, Cyberpunk, as well as releasing modding tools with the REDkit for The Witcher games. You can learn more by paying a visit to the Official CD Projekt RED Website or check out the rest of the interview with Tomaszkiewicz over at VG 24/7.
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