These days we are seeing more and more developers and publishers stuff DRM into their games to combat piracy, but is it even working? Is it worth it when it takes its toll on both the development budget and customer satisfaction? Popular survey says no, but what can be done?

As a customer we all vote with our money, that’s just how the system works. However small you may feel your contribution may be you will still be a part of a grand pie-chart somewhere in business-world, and so it’s important to spend it somewhere you have faith in. But “Woah” I hear you shout “AAsama, are you trying to tell us where we should spend our hard earned money?” To that I respond with a confident “Maybe” and present you this: GoG.com and CD Projekt.

The reason I feel the need to write this article for you guys is that recently GoG.com and CD Projekt had a joint press conference to reveal some exciting things. If you are a listener to Voice of Crom we have previously praised both companies for their stances on DRM and costumer appreciation, but recently this has gone even further. I will give you the skinny from this ~1 hour presentation:

• GoG is moving into newer games, such as Assassins Creed and Heroes of Might and Magic 5. Thus dropping “Good old Games” and just sticking with GoG.
• GoG rewarded their community for making them so big by giving everyone Fallout 1 for free.
• CD Projekt thanks you for buying The Witcher 2 by giving you Witcher 2 on GoG for free, no matter where you bought it.
• CD Projekt is releasing The Witcher 2 Enhanced edition for 360 and PC on the 17 of April. But wait, what if you already have Witcher 2? Well then, CD Projekt will roll out a patch that will update your base game to the enhanced edition. 11 Gigs of new content and fixes, for absolutely free.

And everything associated with CD Projekt and GoG.com is completely DRM free.

It’s hard to not fall in love with companies that are clearly doing their best to please their customers. Coming up from the rotten sewers of DRM, of which Ubisoft has made a very noticeable contribution, this truly is a breath of fresh air. By supporting these companies you are voting with your money, you will be part of a grand pie chart that may show something like this:

In closing, I cannot recommend GoG.com and CD Projekt enough, you can’t help but feel good about buying their games and that is truly rare these days. So be part of the solution, help end the age of DRM.