Witcher III dev putting gamers first despite Xbox One DRM

While some companies may have been pleased by the announcement by Microsoft that its next generation console, the Xbox One, would come packing built in DRM that locked games to individual accounts, disallowed game lending and required online activation on a regular basis, developer of the Witcher, CD Projekt is reserving judgement for now. Whatever the result though, it will put the gamers first, by releasing the Witcher III on all platforms.

“I am sure that a lot of gamers will choose one of the consoles for its convenience and easiness of use – that's fine, and by doing so they will agree to whatever rules the platform holder will impose,” said joint CEO Martin Iwiński while speaking with Eurogamer.

“What I can, however, guarantee here and now, is that if you want the 100 per cent DRM-free experience you will have it on the PC, the platform where we set the rules for our games. The Witcher 3 will be available 100 per cent DRM-free on our digital distribution platform GOG.com, and that's one thing I can confirm.”

The Witcher III trailer at E3 was well received, with pretty visuals and some interesting mechanics.

With the release of the Witcher III, it'll be the first time that CD Projekt has released a game simultaneously on multiple platforms before and while you'd have thought that the developer might be hesitant about working with Microsoft considering the software giant's new stance on console DRM, it ultimately wants people to play its game, leaving the decision on what platform to use up to them.

Iwiński did add the caveat however, that as it stands, the company didn't know very much about Microsoft's new policies, as the E3 showing for the Xbox One was the first time he and the rest of the company had heard about it.
“We have not received anything from Microsoft until today on this one and, before we form any definite opinions here, we would like to have this process explained in detail by the platform holder.”

“From our side, we will be of course looking for the most gamer friendly solution.”

That much is clear.

KitGuru Says: This is a commendable approach. Gamers should be the priority of a developer and while the Xbox One might not be an ideal platform, people will buy it and if you don't want a group of people to miss out on your game experience, developing something for them – even if you don't agree with their choice – is admirable. 

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