CD Projekt RED’s Marcin Iwinski has announced plans to give away 16 bits of free DLC to anyone who buys The Witcher 3, “regardless of platform.”
One of Witcher developer CD Projekt RED’s espoused beliefs is that gamers shouldn’t have to pay for downloadable content. When it comes to DLC, the studio has expressed on several occasions that charging customers extra for content is an act that should be reserved for “something really big” like a full fledged expansion. In turn, the developer has, on several occasions given gamers access to substantial chunks of free content.
It’s a practice the company seems intent on continuing when it releases The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt next year. That, at least, is our takeaway from today’s reveal that the simple act of purchasing the new game will give you immediate access to “16 specially prepared DLCs” that will be free “regardless of platform.” This DLC will launch in weekly bundles containing two pieces of content each and will start being distributed the day after The Witcher 3‘s February 24th release date. The first bundle will contain a special Temerian armor set and a beard and hairstyle set for the game’s protagonist Geralt. The bundle following will contain an additional quest and an alternative appearance for the character Yennefer.
In a statement, CD Projekt RED co-founder Marcin Iwinski claimed that giving this kind of content away for free is just part of the company’s efforts to treat gamers properly. “Every time we reach out for a new release, we expect to be taken care of,” he said.”We expect support if we encounter any problems, we love updates constantly improving the experience, and we feel really special when we receive free content that gives us more than we initially paid for.” He would go on to say that this kind of treatment is “unfortunately” rare in the modern industry and expressed his belief that gamers shouldn’t be expected to buy even more content when they “just paid a lot of cash for a brand new game.” It’s a sentiment that we feel confident saying a lot of gamers would probably agree with. What do you think? Are CD Projekt RED’s actions admirable? Or do you think they’d be better off charging for DLC like most everyone else?
Source: The Witcher
