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Witcher 3 In-Game Book Talks About DRM, Promotes GOG

Keep an eye out for Gottfried's Omni-opening Grimoire.

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CD Projekt Red, the developer responsible for The Witcher series, has long been a staunch opponent of DRM in games. It even uses its latest game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, to make fun of the practice and talk up GOG.com.

As you can see in the image below (sent by a player to Kotaku), a book you can find in-game called Gottfried's Omni-opening Grimoire discusses the subject of the Defensive Regulatory Magicon, conveniently shortened to DRM.

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"DRM thus makes for an extremely effective and near-unbreakable security measure--but you are in luck, for you hold in your hands the key to bypassing it, namely the present tome, Gottfried's Omni-opening Grimoire, or GOG for short," part of it reads. "In the pages to follow, you will find innumerable methods for deactivating DRM, or, even better, bypassing it altogether…"

The readable portion of the book ends there. It's an especially clever nod to fans who are aware of of DRM and GOG, as those who are not likely wouldn't find the book's contents to be noteworthy.

CD Projekt Red explained last year why it hates DRM, saying it doesn't "want to assault anyone. Each time we are thinking about a decision, the first rule is we have to treat gamers like we'd like to be treated. We don't believe in DRM because we hate DRM. It also doesn't protect, not really. Games are cracked in minutes, hours, or days, but they're always cracked. If you want to pirate you'll find a way. But if you're a committed gamer and are buying the game why should we place a barrier on you?"

The company recently launched GOG Galaxy, a new Steam-style client for GOG, its digital games distribution service. GOG originally launched as Good Old Games, a site focused on providing DRM-free versions of classic computer games. In 2012, it changed its name to the abbreviation of GOG as it began selling modern games alongside classics while maintaining its focus on everything being DRM-free.

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