‘The Witcher 3’ Denounces Industry DLC Practices By Offering 16 For Free
CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt just got on the good side of the love / hate relationship that gamers have with DLC. The studio announced Thursday how much it plans to charge for add-on content for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC role-playing game. They went with free.
The video game industry has become mired in all sorts of DLC programs. Gamers either have to pre-order a game from a certain retailer, buy a game for a certain platform, or purchase a Season Pass. It’s the kind of thing that has caused backlash, with Destiny being one recent example. CD Projekt Red’s Marcin Iwi?ski penned an open letter to the community that pokes other publisher’s in the eye over how DLC is handled and will immediately make The Witcher 3 receive kudos and probably some extra sales.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – 16 FREE DLCs for everyone! Learn more about our special program! http://t.co/65B2QWfdz4 pic.twitter.com/bmeBz6IWAC
— The Witcher (@witchergame) November 6, 2014
We love games. We love collecting them, playing them, and everything connected to that experience. Every time we reach out for a new release, we expect to be taken care of. 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. It doesn’t have to be huge, it can be an awesome skin for a character, or an extra sword, or armor.
Unfortunately this treatment is quite rare these days. As gamers, we nowadays have to hold on tight to our wallets, as surprisingly right after release, lots of tiny pieces of tempting content materialize with a steep price tag attached. Haven’t we just paid a lot of cash for a brand new game?
As CD PROJEKT RED, we strongly believe this is not the way it should work and, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we have decided to do it differently. Cutting to the chase, everyone who buys Wild Hunt will receive 16 specially prepared DLCs absolutely for free, regardless of platform. You don’t have to pre-order, you don’t have to buy any special edition to get them — if you own a copy of Wild Hunt, they’re yours. This is our way of saying thank you for buying our game.
Regards,
Marcin
The Witcher 3 is currently set for a February 24, 2015 release for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The first DLC will be released a day later with two items — the Temerian Armor Set (horse armor included) and a Beard and Hairstyle Set for Geralt. A bundle of two items will then be released every week for the next seven weeks. The second bundle is already confirmed to contain an alternative look for another main character plus a new quest.
Everyone will receive the DLC is eligible regardless of whether or not they pre-ordered the game or picked it up after launch.
What do you think of CD Projekt Red’s move with free DLC for The Witcher 3? Sound off in the comments below.
[Images via The Witcher]
