The Witcher 2 Digital Premium Edition to have no DRM from GoG.com

by Richard Mitchell on Mar 17th 2011 1:00AM

GoG.com has announced that its version of The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings Digital Premium Edition will be the only version to ship without any sort of digital rights management. In a press release, managing director Guillaume Rambourg noted that, "DRM is not an effective way to combat piracy," adding that user experience has always been his company's "main concern." Of course, it's also worth noting that developer CD Projekt owns GoG.com, so it's understandable its version would receive a few perks.

If your main concern is to play The Witcher 2 without jumping through extra hoops, it looks like GoG.com is the way to go.

Show full PR text

Good Old Games' version of highly-anticipated RPG will not contain DRM as all other downloadable versions will; to host live The Witcher 2 video Q&A on Ustream with Senior Producer Tomasz Gop Warsaw, Poland - March 15. Good Old Games (www.gog.com), the premier purveyor of classic, DRM-free PC games, is announcing that it will be the sole DRM-free distributor of the Digital Premium Edition of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. As a sister company to CD Projekt RED, the development house behind The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, GOG has been offering preorders for the title with exclusive downloadable content, but in a change of pace today it's what they're not offering for download that may pique a gamer's interest. GOG's copy of The Witcher 2 will not contain any DRM, unlike all other versions of the Digital Premium Edition. "DRM is not an effective way to combat piracy," said Managing Director Guillaume Rambourg. "Our main concern has always been the user's experience with the titles they purchase, and DRM effects that experience in a negative way, which is why we've been absolutely thrilled at the opportunity to distribute CD Projekt RED's incredible RPG. We're also pleased that we've been able to stick to our guns with The Witcher 2 and release it DRM free to all of our customers around the world." GOG will be hosting a live Q&A with CD Projekt RED Senior Producer Tomasz Gop and GOG's head of marketing & PR Trevor Longino. The Q&A will be on Friday, March 18th, at 19:00 GST and during the Q&A, Tomasz will be revealing some exclusive "Making of the new Geralt" concept art and discussing the changes in the fighting mechanic from the original game. Preordering The Witcher 2 is free on GOG (http://www.gog.com/tw2) and doesn't compel the person preordering a copy to purchase it then, and everyone who does so by Thursday the 17th will receive a password to enter the UStream channel. There, they will be able to ask questions about The Witcher 2 and GOG live, and everyone whose question is chosen to be answered will receive a free game code good for any regular GOG title.

Tags: CD-Projekt, cd-projekt-red, drm, gog.com, pc, the-witcher-2

Reader Comments (39)

CD Projekt is the best developer by far. No bullcrap DRM, superior retail packages (you know, to REWARD the consumer for buying retail), true moral choices (no binary "good" and "evil"), proper treatment of the PC platform (although it's PC exclusive. Here's to hoping it gets to consoles ASAP for everyone to enjoy), and above all, a game like Witcher 2 on the developer's SECOND game they've made.

Seriously, compare these guys to BioWare, who are so-called industry "veterans", and I have to feel embarrassed for BioWare. Gaming rookies running laps around you games offering superior games and superior consumer treatment.

@PointlessPuppies
Must everything be a competition?

@PointlessPuppies

You are right, and the numbers have shown that people do care about them. More than a million copies for the first one ( and counting) is a great achievement, i´m sure this one is going to get the same amount of sales if not more......

@Cleric Competition drives healthy design. As developers try to 'one up' another, we benefit from greater games.

@PointlessPuppies Whoa, hold on. I love CD Projekt, but they've released ONE game. ONE. Calling them "the best developer by far" is stretching it a bit. Without any real track record to speak of, they're not even eligible for the title yet.

@Rallion

Best? No. But it's clear they are one of a dying breed. A developer with some integrity and honesty.

They proved that by not only supporting W1 long past it's date, but also by almost totally remaking the game and then giving the update away free.

Not to mention the fact that they also seem to actually like their games and don't just see them as a profit-producer for the next quarter.

@Rallion

I'm going to have to agree. We can't give a company a "best developer" title until they've had a good amount of products under their belts. Still...CD Project Red seems to be heading down a good route. With their emphasis on story and their ability to actually create and tell an amazing story, I'm actually in high hopes of their future. No Bioware game has given me a story that has rivaled Metal Gear, Dreamfall, The Longest Journey, Silent Hill, or indigo prophecy. I wonder if CD Project can...

Nice. I'm interested in seeing how their sales do.

Ever since DRM (SecuROM) prevented me from playing my 3rd game, I've really been wanting a company to try this.

*3rd [legally bought] game.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk19/Threddd/1233897312014.jpg

Welcome to six months ago Joystiq. This has been the primary argument against buying it on Steam for ages now (on top of the devs getting more money out of GoG since it's the same company.)

@DustbinK ...and they actually reported on that six months ago. Kinda weird.

Isn't this old news? This has been advertised on GoG and the dev's website for a while...

@(Unverified) Yes, This news is a few months old.

I only want to know whether I can register my retail CE with all the nice swag with Steam, for added convenience. They'll surely not protect that one with Steamworks.

@RedViv I doubt the Steam version has added DRM since Steam functions as a method of DRM its self.

@wcarnation
Uh, sure, yeah. I just want to know if I can enter a retail serial code into Steam, as an option. There's been a few devs who did that for their games. Would be nice, since the Steam version gets cloud saves, achievements and such.

The only DRM I've ever had troubles working with was GFWL, and even then, that wasn't really the DRM, it was more just GFWL...

I pre ordered this off of steam and I really don't care what DRM it uses.

I don't know. Once you have Steam can you really branch out? I have about 90 games on Steam and I've tried "Microsoft Windows Games for Windows Live Marketplace" (Oh Microsoft, I love how you name things - so in touch with the people) only to get Gears of War but I never think twice about buying games anywhere else (besides GameStop retail).

And I know DRM is a huge issue and the companies that do incorporate it when we PAY money for their games only to be greeted with head aches is terrible - but, again, with Steam..even if there is DRM, I never notice.

I do applaud GoG (whoever they may be) for saying "DRM is not an effective way to combat piracy." Amen to that, at least someone in the business gets it.

@Imdavid

Games For Windows Marketplace*

@Imdavid

Actually GOG stands for Good Ol' (or Old) Games.

Here is their website.

http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/

@Imdavid I branch out whenever I get a better deal elsewhere. My primary collection of games is on Steam but I got several titles on Download2Drive, few on Impulse, and a whole bunch of classics on GOG. I ain't touching microsoft's store with a ten foot pole though.

@Misfit Toy Clearly 'Good ol (for old) Games' and....The Witcher II from 2011..

:D

@Imdavid clearly you've never been to the site.

witcher II would be the obvious exception, since the same company owns both.

While it's lovely that they're doing this, I do wonder if the gaming community as a whole isn't just going to take advantage of them for their troubles. I hope not.

@AJack

Might be some form of karma after the whole 'we're closing GOG. LOL JK JK APRIL FOOLS'

@Cleric So that's a free pass to pirate their game? a bad PR move?

Nice.

DRM is an effective way to fight customers.

This shouldn't need DRM anyway.

If you pirate a game from CDProjekt then you are a first class dick. No excuses.

They are one of the few remaining developers who actually care what their fans think and try to do right by them - check out their standard edition of the W2 which comes with more swag than competitors CE editions at twice the price.

If you can't support CDProjekt then you are not worthy of belonging to the PC gaming community.

Oh but I'll still have DRM after paying $125 for the collectors edition?

@AlphaJace I don't believe CDProjekt is the publisher for the retail games so I don't think they have any control over what DRM is shipped with it.

So if it's not effective, why do the other versions have DRM? Or don't they, and are they proclaiming the GOG version as they own the service?

I can understand the latter, but think the former is kind of weird, if not hypocritical. No offense meant to CD Projekt, Not DRM-ing your games is awesome news for legitimate buyers (who are the only ones to suffer) But why penalize the guy who wants a disc, especially if, like me, he's had it pre-ordered since december.

@Iamdude GoG is CDProjekt's sister company hence their version has no DRM. Also bear in mind that publishers (the ones who print the disc) are the ones responsible for including the DRM on their published products, not the developers.

Steam and other Digital retailers have their on kind of DRM since you have to register your product online at least once to enable it and after that you have to use their client to access the game. GoG has none of that; download the exe and you can use it anywhere without the online authentication or the client download.

@Novus Ordo Seclorum

I already know that GoG and CD projekt have a thing together, it says so right in my post. What I was wondering is whether or not other versions, the disc version in particular, have DRM.

That steam is a DRM unto itself, I know, doesn't stop companies from adding their own occasionally. I also already know that GoG doesn't have DRM, since that's what this article is about, repeating that kind of stuff makes you sound like a company rep.

So my question remains unanswered, does the disc version of the Witcher 2 have DRM? (It seems a bit weird to me that if the developer is this vocal about not addind DRM that they wouldn't find a publisher to agree with that.)

@Iamdude Yes, the only version that has DRM free is the GoG one. Apologies for my misinterpretation.

Why don't they just call the service "GoD" for "Games on Demand"?

DRM is just a placebo for publishers. It changes nothing except making pirates wait a day or two more and particulary strong DRM just encourages more people to pirate.

"DRM is not an effective way to combat piracy,"

Thank goodness someone finally figured that out.

Patches, bugfixes, and regular updates seem to be the most effective way to combat piracy if anything,not DRM

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

The Witcher 2 Digital Premium Edition to have no DRM from GoG.com

Reader Comments (39)

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:08AM PointlessPuppies said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:14AM Cleric said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:16AM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:59AM wcarnation said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 5:18AM Rallion said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 5:28AM arkweld said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 11:02AM AlphaJace said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:10AM Frostblade10 said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:11AM Frostblade10 said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:31AM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:42AM DustbinK said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:46AM Unvrfd said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:45AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:47AM Gordon Freeman said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:48AM RedViv said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 2:14AM wcarnation said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 12:02AM RedViv said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:49AM liquidsoap89 said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:53AM Imdavid said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 5:47AM This Little Man Says His Name Is said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 9:03AM Misfit Toy said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 9:54AM 2late2die said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 12:12PM Imdavid said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 3:15PM sweenish said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:55AM AJack said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 2:04AM Cleric said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 2:17AM wenchwogg said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 2:37AM edit said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 5:24AM arkweld said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 6:46AM AlphaJace said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 10:41AM AMonkey said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 7:33AM Iamdude said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 11:55AM Novus Ordo Seclorum said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 6:31PM Iamdude said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 10:33AM Novus Ordo Seclorum said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 8:40AM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 10:40AM AMonkey said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 12:05PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 1:40PM Crayola Q Pants ESQ said

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