Witcher 3's Getting Lots of Free DLC, But...

In an age of $50 seasons passes for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, it's genuinely shocking to see a company announce plans for free downloadable content, but CD Projekt RED's trying to make some waves with The Witcher 3. There are some catches, though.

CD Projekt RED will release 16 pieces of free downloadable content for its sprawling adventure, starting with the "Temerian Armor Set" and a "Beard and Hairstyle Set" set for Geralt. The studio will publish bundles with two pieces of DLC content every week following the game's release.

Free DLC is nice 'n all, but don't expect CD Projekt RED to give the big stuff away for free. The company still plans to charge for major expansions. It seems likely the free add-ons will primarily be new weapons and cosmetic options.

"Should we decide to do some big expansions or something, we'll expect gamers to pay for it," said studio head Marcin Iwinski to Rock Paper Shotgun. "But again, it's all value for money. I think $15-$20 for new gameplay is a pretty honest and fair deal."

Seems fair to me

Seems fair

any "DLC" that is only weapons, armor or something of that ilk and not new missions, narrative content or MP maps should be free.

When a game costs over $60, supporting it with "free" content shouldn't be considered a novel concept. ...it never was in the past.

@spacecouncil: I agree. The cool thing about CDPR is that even if it's just one small quest, it's still free.

Seems like less of a "But..." and more of an "and".

They'll be releasing free DLC along with some paid expansions. So... like every other game, but maybe better.

The only weird thing about that kind of staggered free DLC if it gives you character customisation stuff is that it might motivate me to wait to play the game until it's all out there.

Can't kill monsters if your beard ain't right.

I don't see a problem with that.

What's the catch?

CDPR has supported all their $60 games with free DLC its only Patrick that thinks its news this time around.

That's awesome.

I still think Guerrilla has the best DLC initiative. All new multiplayer maps were free for Killzone but there were additional cosmetics and game modes that built up their season pass.

Any way you cut it I can get behind free content on top of your initial purchase. $60 is a lot of money and it's always great to see when companies go that extra step to make their customers happy.

Take note Bungie.

Where's the PS4 footage at CD Projekt?

Free horse armor please.

Why not just include all that stuff in the game in the first place? Is this purely a PR move?

That free horse armour is pretty funny.

Preach it!

What am I going to do with all this money for horse armor I've been saving up?

They've always done free updates in the past that had items or other stuff such as the option to change hairstyles, Dark Mode which was a harder difficulty that had exclusive craftable item sets, etc. that were added after the fact so its nothing new with CDProjektRed but the expansions however is something pretty new coming from them.

Putting out stuff every week gives people an incentive to turn on the game, of course it's a marketing move.

Really looking forward to it, just a bummer that it's coming so late in my semester break. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if they delayed the game again.

Save it for Dragon Age...

Combat and story exposition in Witcher 2 were so awful. I hope they fix that. Environments were top notch though (aside from the loading doors).

I don't believe they will charge for the big expansions they never did for the previous games when they went to the extended editions they were all free so I don't see them changing that now.

That's the way to handle it. Put out the small, probably mostly cosmetic stuff for free, but charge for the new quests and stuff. Sounds cool!

Also, this means customizable beards. What a world we live in!

CD Projekt RED has always been GREAT to its customers.

Well fair enough.

Ah.. didn't they at some point attempt to sue the people who pirated The Witcher 1? I mean they've been great afterwards, but I wouldn't say "always".

Not every piece of DLC will be ready when the game releases. (Source: Polygon)

@spraynardtatum: I always liked that because it gets so many people playing new multiplayer maps as opposed to having to have seperate playlist with lower populations. Like say what you will about Mass Effect 3's multiplayer but all the DLC was free because I'm assuming they made so much money off the microtransactions.

And the DLC added a lot of stuff like new maps, classes, enemies. I thought it was neat.

Rather have a company that learn from the mistakes rather than being perfect from the get-go. That would lead to arrogant decisions.

That's why they started taking pre-orders 8 months before release, and before showing the game to the public.

That was a shitty move.

Guys, I think it seems fair.

Is it that hard to read? There is a quote from a member of the development team saying that any potential expansions will cost money. I don't think they would come out and say that if it wasn't true.

It's true that they've never charged for DLC before, but all the stuff they did previously was very minor, certainly not something that would be classified as an expansion. I think if they do end up releasing paid content it will almost assuredly be much more substantial than any of the Enhanced Edition content.

Who cares? Any other company would start taking pre-orders after the announce trailer, nobody has to pre-order it, and they're not missing out on anything if they don't. Like if that's the worst you can say about that company then that's pretty dam good.

That's cool and all but I'm not sure what the point is. Why not just include that stuff in the game if it is just weapons and cosmetic stuff?

Yep, that seems like a pretty cool way to do DLC. Good on you, you crazy Poles.

plus keep in mind it gets discounted to like $50 or something if you have the previous Witcher games.

i for one think i can forgive and forget.

@mooseymcman: there is a free quest too (in the dlc that they have disclosed so far)

seems like some peripheral stuff doesnt matter enough that the release should be delayed, so they're putting it out piecemeal later. Makes sense. I kinda dont care about any of that stuff, none of it sounds integral. Which I think is the point.

CDProjectRED, and GOG, always seem to be trying to do right by the customer and I really appreciate that. Though I hope that means that if they do release a paid expansion they don't put that in the menu's if you don't buy it, I always hate that feeling of buying a complete product that becomes less complete over time.

Spend on ladies or grow up new beard style ;)

@obikwiet: Well, artists and modelers have to have their work finished long before the game goes gold so that all that stuff can be hooked-up in the game and go through QA. My guess is that it won't be in the game because those folks will be starting work on it while everyone else is locking down the build. Once the game starts shipping, there will be time to get that new content in the game so it can be released after launch.

@slashdance: why is it shitty? You're not required to preorder, and they were giving incentives (monetarily) vs the standard cosmetic item you usually get.

"The fact that we are announcing the DLC before launch does not mean it is ready at this moment in time. As you probably know, we are currently focused on polishing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This means that most of the teams are involved in finalizing development and optimizing the game. However, some of the teams are free to start working on additional content that can be released after we launch the game. This is the case here. DLC will not be present on disc."

This is what they said on the matter.

This is what I felt DLC should've always been. Weekly-ish updates that are mostly free consisting of new character skins, guns, etc. DLC and Expansion Packs should be two completely different things, so I'm happy to see project RED taking this route.

People will bitch about anything I guess.

Jeffs law of DLC applies: as long as you feel like you got a complete game with your 60$, dlc is fine.

CD Projekt is one ofthe coolest developers out there. This is just another reason why.

This is how you do it Bungie.

I don't know guys, this is fishy. They haven't even talked about a 10 year plan yet.

For a game that's fun that I want to keep playing I have no problem paying for large expansions. I really wish that I Shadow of Mordor had some quality story content coming.

I also don't see the problem with season passes for a game focused on multiplayer content. If you know you are going to get all the maps for a game then what's wrong with paying $50 for what you would normally pay $60 for? You still have the option to buy the stuff individually if you want, so I don't understand the complaints.

You might be joking, but I'm actually waiting for that to drop before I play. I'm gonna go 100% Vinny on this game, and my beard has to look perfect, from the start.