I just hope for CDPR and GOG's sake that there aren't launch day technical problems again otherwise there will be a lot of disgruntled customers on release day. Out of all the publishers, CDPR should indeed be well aware how futile it is to use such measures against piracy as it only ends up creating problems for actual customers.

Apart from that though the more disconcerting decision is to make it compulsory for retail buyers to create an account on GOG to receive updates and DLC content for the game. This is like retailers selling boxes with Steam codes thereby forcing customers to create an online account which is what most people actually want to avoid in the first place.

GoG is punishing those who have pre-ordered and supported The Witcher 3 - I think this is ultimately unfair! :-(

This was completely unannounced and is against any guideline GoG has voiced about freedom from DRM.
I will never pre-order any CD-Project or GoG-game again (I had already stopped pre-ordering outside GoG anyway).

Shame on you, GoG!
REALLY! :-(

Franz

If you read the article posted earlier, they do answer these questions:

Okay, I actually did not read it. I think I have to apologize and take everything back. I didn't think about that. Well, then it is hardly an issue at all. If then they offer the patches the same way without any registration necessary, everything is in perfect order.

The unresolved question so far is whether GOG has an issue with the patches being made publicly available. That's the issue right now.

The "DRM" is essentially a system that is designed to be extremely circumventable post-release and which inherently does not tie the game to the account from the outset. Assuming that the game is stable and completable without any game-breaking bugs on the disc version, this isn't that bad.

And we have a commitment that future pressings will not have this system. Let's hope they keep to that. I assume that this future pressing will also include early patches (given that the gold master needs to be redone for it).

Patches and support etc will only be available officially via GOG, making it essentially the GOG equivalent of a Steamworks game. Not something I personally have a problem with, but I can see why a lot of people won't like it.

The other unresolved question is whether GOG's patches will be compatible with the retail version.

Witcher 3: Enhanced Edition. I'm calling it.

Since GOG will be the only official way to get patches for the retail release I think it would be pretty stupid if the GOG patches didn't work on it

This ^^

It is review copies during the development of the game. But if it does indeed have the first batch require the file, that is definitely DRM. It prevents the user from using their personal property that they purchased. Once you sell some one something, it belongs to that person regardless of Intellectual rights. You will never stamp it out. Like having a repo man come for your car because of a contract clause. Lotsa luck with that one. You would see in the news a whole lotta repo people quitting or worse.

loool I think we need to save this and mass post it everytime they tout their DRM freedom

Any news if the version sold on gog.com also has this kind of "DRM" (sorry, I did not read every single post)

They want to do the Valve and force their own store down people's throats. Keep in mind that not everyone knows about GOG and so getting people to sign up will introduce them to it. Steam would not have become so powerful if it was optional.

Of course that's like saying the mafia would not have gotten so powerful if they didn't use violence against anyone in their way. All I can do is vote with my wallet until patches become freely available.

I don't think so, the "DRM" is only there to stop people from playing the game until release. It's not really DRM, it's more along the line of "broken by design" (I'll let you decide which is worse). When you pre-download the game the same thing happens, you copy of the game is intentionally corrupted to prevent you from playing. Once it is officially release the correct version is put on the servers and your downloader is able to correct the broken part, which is usually just a few megabytes.

I guess if you take advantage of the preload it will, since the preload will also be missing some necessary data that will need to be downloaded at launch.

This makes sense when you pre-download a game, and I'm totally fine with that.
I was just curious if the gog.com version will have this "active your game online to be able to play and download patches" stuff too?

I don't think they've had much of a choice to be honest. GOG have spent the past six years trying to play it nice, adopting a policy of "inviting" gamers to try GOG without trying to force them in. It hasn't worked, and they have been consistently steamrollered by Valve's aggressive expansion policy through games being released with enforced Steam use at retail, enforced Steam use at most distributors.

Fact is that if GOG don't act more aggressively to push their store, all that will happen is that gamers will continue to be lazy dickheads and refuse to use anything but Steam, rationalising their laziness with excuses such as "I want it all in one place", which in turn means that everything available for PC will be Steam only with a possible delayed GOG release as an afterthought.

That's why we're seeing the NVIDIA promo deal with the GOG code for Witcher 3, that's why the retail version is using GOG for patches and DLC, that's why Galaxy exists in the first place. Valve got to where they are now not by offering a superior service, but rather by taking a killer app (Half-Life 2) and using that along with extreme price markdowns to gradually gain a stranglehold over the PC market.

The only way that stranglehold can be broken is by using similarly dirty tactics. Do I like it? No. Would I prefer a fully DRM-free version at retail? Yes.

But I'll tell you this - the solution may not be ideal, but it's a thousand times better than being lumped with a Steam, UPlay or Origin version on disc.