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GOG.com Implements Court-Required Changes; Uses Geo-IP to Determine Location for Witcher 2 Purchases

If you’ve been paying attention to news about the CD Projekt RED group, you’ve possibly heard that a French court made a judgement about a few things that were in dispute between CD Projekt RED and Namco Bandai Partners. Most of the decision doesn’t influence GOG.com, but one of the rulings from the court does: according to the findings of the court, the method that we have been using to determine what location a game purchaser is located at when they buy a copy of [url=http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/the_witcher_2]The Witcher 2 (and, as such, what version and price they are presented with) needs to be changed.

GOG.com has stated for a long time now that we believe that the best security is asking only for the minimum of information that we need to successfully transact business with our customers. Our opinion is still that including things like determining your location via Geo-IP, because there are several possible flaws with that system. However, in order to keep selling The Witcher 2, we will need to implement a Geo-IP based system for determining your location, per the orders of the court.

We will be implementing this system immediately; you will see that your local currency’s price is now featured on the product page when you visit it, based on your IP address. Since we've already announced the price for this game would be the same flat price everywhere during the Holiday Sale (which ends on January 2nd, 2012, at 23:59 EST Time), we’re not going to change the pricing for the Witcher 2 until this sale ends.

We remain committed to user privacy and keeping your information as safe and secure as we can. Further, while your profile’s location is, by order of the court, determined via Geo-IP when you purchase a copy of The Witcher 2, you can still set your country location for the forums as you would like, and your location doesn’t matter for buying any other games on GOG.com.

If you have already purchased your copy of the Witcher 2, we won’t be changing anything on your already-bought copy, just as if you had a boxed copy on a physical shelf instead of a virtual box on your GOG.com shelf.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to ask it the comments below, or (if you’re a journalist) drop us an email and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
wait what?

is there US version of Witcher... is there australian version of TW2?

first time i hear about this.
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lukaszthegreat: wait what?

is there US version of Witcher... is there australian version of TW2?

first time i hear about this.
Right. (AU) version is censored, no nudity scenes. But i'm not sure whether they censored the swear words and violence as well.
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lukaszthegreat: wait what?

is there US version of Witcher... is there australian version of TW2?

first time i hear about this.
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wormholewizards: Right. (AU) version is censored, no nudity scenes. But i'm not sure whether they censored the swear words and violence as well.
Not true. The Australian version of The Witcher 2 has an option where Geralt is offered sex as a reward to be automatically declined. Pretty sure this is the only edited aspect.
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PalZer0: Given that a French court has ordered this, why not just stop selling The Witcher 2 on GOG.com in France? That way Scamco Bandit have to go through every other country that they believe CDPR is violating their agreement in.

Note: I'm not a lawyer so I'm not sure if this would actually work. I'm just thinking of different ideas on how to combat this situation.
Since Poland signed the Lugarno Convention, (which recognizes the jurisdiction of other member countries courts) before it joined the EU, it would appear there are no options for CDP, apart from an appeal. Any attempt to bypass the ruling would likely have *serious* ramifications.
Post edited January 14, 2012 by Kezardin
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PalZer0: Also (and I apologise if this has been addressed already) but if someone in the US were to gift Thw Witcher 2 to an Australian, would the recipient receive the US version or the AU version?
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Miaghstir: AU. The gifted version is decided when the gift code is redeemed, not on payment. (And yes, this has been adressed.)
Well that really sucks. If the same scenario were to happen on Steam then it would be the US version.

GOG might want to look at fixing that so the gifted version is decided on payment as opposed to where the recipient redeems the gift code.
Post edited January 15, 2012 by PalZer0
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Miaghstir: AU. The gifted version is decided when the gift code is redeemed, not on payment. (And yes, this has been adressed.)
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PalZer0: Well that really sucks. If the same scenario were to happen on Steam then it would be the US version.

GOG might want to look at fixing that so the gifted version is decided on payment as opposed to where the recipient redeems the gift code.
I don't think CD Project wants to push their luck. Proxy, however... Well that's out of their control.
I only just saw this. A real shame guys but thank you so much for fighting the good fight. When this whole issue started I was very reactionary about it but you very quickly proved that you guys will stand up for our rights and you've gained my trust. Sure things like this will happen and it's out of your control but we understand that. Thanks again.
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PalZer0: Well that really sucks. If the same scenario were to happen on Steam then it would be the US version.

GOG might want to look at fixing that so the gifted version is decided on payment as opposed to where the recipient redeems the gift code.
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Fenixp: I don't think CD Project wants to push their luck. Proxy, however... Well that's out of their control.
They wouldn't be pushing their luck though as they'd be behaving like every other DD store regarding gifting.

If it was a retail purchase of the US version gifted to an Aussie, the Aussie would still be getting the US version.

Other DD stores can preserve this. Why can't GOG?
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PalZer0: Other DD stores can preserve this. Why can't GOG?
I sort of think because it would be far more effort than what it's worth, frankly. This store was never designed to work with regional restrictions in the first place (thank god), and substantially changing how gifting works for one game doesn't sound that clever. If you're really bothered by this just get it gifted on Steam or other DD service, you're obviously not bothered by DRM-free too much and CD-Project will see most of that money anyway.
Just to clarify...

What will happen with the localized copy of the Witcher 2 once the Enhanced Edition is released?
The reason I am asking for this is I am interested in re-downloading the whole build once it is made available with EE integrated into it.
Hypothetically, if I was Australian and I bought the game before the localization was implemented, will I be re-downloading it localized for Australians or still in the same version as was my original purchase (which was United Kingdom).

Thank you for your assistance with this...
According to the press release, once you've actually bought the game then your country of origin (for TW2) is fixed. If you bought the game while your country was set as the UK, then it would remain the same. Look at the penultimate paragraph of the first post here.

Hopefully, when EE is released they won't recalculate your location. It appears it's only applicable to new purchases as of Jan 3, 2012.
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FlyByU: It does to me. I don't nor will I ever go by any court ruling but from an American court. I am surprised that you all think it fine that a foreign court would be allowed to affect your country and you. I am sure if our courts ruled that it is illegal for abortion world wide non of the countries would enforce it.
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Kabuto: This elitist United States Of America is king attitude really has to stop. As many others have said, the french court ruled on the contract itself which covers all appropriate regions. It was not a France specific issue.

I know it's not just you. Barack Obama thinks just like you. Screw everyone else because America is king. But we'll gladly import millions upon millions of barrels from you Canada while no longer allowing you to bid for contracts to supply American companies with raw materials.
I was dying to figure out how someone would take a thread about a Polish company's dispute with French courts and turn into States-bashing. There ought to be a Godwin's law for this now.