In November 2014, CD Projekt RED had announced that they would be releasing a total of 16 free ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’ post-launch DLC packs. However, at the time it was not made clear by the studio why this content was not being charged.
When recently asked by IGN why the studio was releasing 16 free DLC packs, CD Projekt RED co-founder and joint CEO Marcin Iwinski yielded a rather firm answer.
“Because people just paid full price for our game,” Iwinski stated. “We owe them.”
Iwinski commented further that the move was very much a statement against the DLC business practices seen commonly in the videogame industry. However, despite the insistence to make a statement, he also acknowledged the DLC add-ons to ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’ would not be very large.
“We, as gamers, would like to be treated this way, ‘Hey, give me free DLC.’ It doesn’t have to be something huge,” Iwinski said. “And I’m saying we aren’t giving out huge stuff, we aren’t giving tens of hours of storyline here, we are giving small bits of pieces that don’t cost a lot. And I think people would feel better about our game, and, so, they will enjoy the adventure even more.”
In opting for this approach for the upcoming open world RPG, Iwinski also stated that offering free DLC could potentially lead to decreasing the amount of pirated copies, while also potentially increasing the amount of people who keep the game as opposed to trade it in.
“And maybe the ones who thought about pirating would not pirate it,” Iwiński added. “Maybe the ones who wanted to trade it back and get something else will keep it on the shelf. That’d be great, I would like this to happen and if not that’s fine as well. I hope they’ll have fun.”
The first two DLC packs for ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’ is expected to release later this year shortly after the release of the game in May, which will contain a “Beard and Hairstyle Set’ for main character Geralt and a “Temerian Armor Set” for his horse. DLC bundles containing two components will then be released every week for free after that.
‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’ will be releasing for PS4, Xbox One and Windows PC on May 19.
Source: IGN