# Why Witcher 3 goes "no-DRM", and does this allow it to be easily pirated? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 22, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-witcher-3-goes-no-drm-and-does-this-allow-it-to-be-easily-pirated/720587 "2015-05-22T12:47:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-witcher-3-goes-no-drm-and-does-this-allow-it-to-be-easily-pirated/720587/41 "2015-05-27T18:38:38Z")
A _few_ of the attempts at non-DRM DRM have been clever: **Batman: Arkham Asylum** leaked a version of the game that had the cape glide maneuver disabled, making the game impassable after a certain point. Hordes of irate pirates demanded their money back (really). šŸ˜› **Indie Game Developer** seeded torrent sites with a version that, after a point, would have your sales drop to 0 due to piracyā€¦pirates again outed themselves by requesting help for an issue that only happened if you didnā€™t get the game legally. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-witcher-3-goes-no-drm-and-does-this-allow-it-to-be-easily-pirated/720587/42 "2015-05-27T18:45:41Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Honestly, I am not sure why anyone BOTHERS with DRM beyond ā€œWe are only releasing this game on Steam.ā€ šŸ˜› I am just guessing but I think it comes from public companies. The board of directors and shareholders rarely get the nuances of all this. They just see that ā€œGame-Xā€ was pirated and lose their collective minds that people are stealing from them. The executives can say that profits would have been even better had it not been for all those pirates. They disingenuously tally up all pirated copies as a lost sale. Hell, I wonder if they even mark it as a loss for tax purposes? Of course, to make this all work for them they need to show they have done their due diligence and made every effort to stop the evil pirates! Unfortunately it seems next to impossible to get shareholders to understand any of this and to realize the company is squandering money rather than making it with these sorts of DRM. And it seems with the Trans Pacific Partnership we will see, among other things, much more harsh and draconian IP laws. Stuff we thought was dead with PIPA/SOPA is resurrected. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-witcher-3-goes-no-drm-and-does-this-allow-it-to-be-easily-pirated/720587/43 "2015-05-28T01:41:59Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > The board of directors and shareholders rarely get the nuances of all this. They just see that ā€œGame-Xā€ was pirated and lose their collective minds that people are stealing from them. Iā€™m not sure people that high are even thinking about in those terms. They probably look at DRM as a standardized and generic business practice that may have some level of return. But they donā€™t really consider the issues of implementation or consumer backlash unless people make them think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-witcher-3-goes-no-drm-and-does-this-allow-it-to-be-easily-pirated/720587/44 "2015-05-28T02:56:12Z")
> [@Unpronounceable](#): > > A _few_ of the attempts at non-DRM DRM have been clever: > > **Batman: Arkham Asylum** leaked a version of the game that had the cape glide maneuver disabled, making the game impassable after a certain point. Hordes of irate pirates demanded their money back (really). šŸ˜› > > **Indie Game Developer** seeded torrent sites with a version that, after a point, would have your sales drop to 0 due to piracyā€¦pirates again outed themselves by requesting help for an issue that only happened if you didnā€™t get the game legally. One of the Serious Sam games had a giant red scorpion enemy spawn in the pirated version that was invulnerable and would hunt you down and kill you, no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-witcher-3-goes-no-drm-and-does-this-allow-it-to-be-easily-pirated/720587/45 "2015-05-28T03:38:14Z")
IIRC the pirated version of \*Crysis Warhead \* turned all of your bullets into chickens. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-witcher-3-goes-no-drm-and-does-this-allow-it-to-be-easily-pirated/720587/46 "2015-05-28T03:51:32Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > IIRC the pirated version of \*Crysis Warhead \* turned all of your bullets into chickens. This sounds like a feature. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-witcher-3-goes-no-drm-and-does-this-allow-it-to-be-easily-pirated/720587/47 "2015-05-28T04:00:39Z")
šŸ™‚ Iā€™m certain there are videoā€™s online. Pretty sure it didnā€™t turn the bad guys bullets into chickens though, so unless your opponents were programmed to be alektorophobes\* you wouldnā€™t get very far in the game. \*yeah, I looked it up [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-witcher-3-goes-no-drm-and-does-this-allow-it-to-be-easily-pirated/720587.md?page=2)