The Witcher franchise sells 1.5 million in 2011

Witcher2 deserves a lot more than 1.5 million...its a thrilling RPG and best in the market

I personally know a gamer who 'pirated' the game, just to see if their computer was up to the task of running it, and if the game was for them. He played for about 2 hours, then uninstalled. If developers would release a demo version for PC games, that 4.5 million would be WAY less. He's waiting for the game on a Steam sale. Not worth $60.

Good, they deserve all that and more.

4.5 milion yeah ok I ma cool with that, lets the blatant hanging of thieves begin...just take into account something, not even 20% of those would have been "real" sales had those users not pirated the game, that is where all this claims that piracy is killing PCs is dead wrong; those do not represent lost sales, its people that deffiently would have not paid for the game regardless, and arround 50% of the time do not have the nececsary hardware of knwledge on how to even run the damn things....If you dont believe me check out the sites and read the comentaries

It kills me how underrated The Wicther series and CDPR really are. The original Witcher is a bit dated now but I still remember having a blast playing it right before The Witcher 2 came out. I am replaying The Witcher 2 right now and it's still as amazing as I first thought. Give this series a try guys.

I don't pirate games myself. I just wait until they drop in price and buy them later when they're not new. I also rent and buy used games. That said I haven't bought or pirate Witcher 1 or 2 because they never interested me enough to actually buy. Maybe later when I'm done with Mass Effect 3 and the handful of stuff I'm doing in WoW before I let my 1 month sub run out.

Even anyone who's an honest gamer only, still knows that any number given for the number of pirate copies is purely a guess and could be wildly out! Then you have the question of how many of those 4.5 million played the game all the way through like they had bought it, or just tried the first 10 mins to see if they liked it then deleted it because they didn't!

i am happy to be the owner of the witcher 1 and 2. cd project deserves.

To GamerLegend10...(Continued)....If you're one of the very few people who download a game and actually buy it if you like it then bravo. You're an extremely small percentage of the ones who do. But I still say that you take the gamble when you buy anything. You can listen to music on the radio or online but people still pirate it instead of buying. You can wait until movies come out on cable or rent them on DVD but yet people still pirate instead of doing so. Label it whatever you want but YES it IS theft because the company doesn't want you to "take" it (which is what you're doing) but you take it anyway. The definition of "Theft" is "...the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another". Now look up the definition of "pirate". Nuff said.

GamerLegend10, First off, "most" people who download a game and play it will NOT buy the game. They've already got it for free so what's the incentive besides a person's honesty? Second, if a demo isn't available, you don't think reviews are reliable and you can't rely on perhaps a friend's suggestion...then don't buy the game. And yes games can be expensive but think about it this way. You go to see two movies and you've paid what you'd pay for a game that you're more then likely going to get tons of hours on. Why don't you ask the people who literally spent 5 years of their blood, sweat and tears (& half of the time their own money) making a game and then the majority of people not only pirate it for free but then complain about the fact that they had to get around some type of DRM. How would you feel if you worked for years with the promise that you would finally get paid for your hard earned sacrifices and then when you were done, another company just copied all of your work and you either didn't make a dime back or only made 25% of what you were expecting to make. I mentioned before that if a game is not available in your country then I can understand. But not here in America where there's no such thing and most people just have a sense of entitlement that games, music and movies should just be FREE. Forget everyone who worked on it and all of the people who were kept employed by working on this product...I don't want to pay for it and I shouldn't have to.

@Kayweg Continued... "You don't walk into a store, snatch the wares and then decide at home if you wanna pay for 'em or just keep 'em" Its completely different...if you did that the shop owner would lose out, this is not the case with a pirated copy. It is not even theft, for many reasons, but i dont want to go into that, it seems to be the hardest thing for people to understand for some reason, and takes some explaining. But as i said in my previous comments, if a person pirates with the intention of keeping the copy, so that they can avoid the cost, then that is wrong. But you cannot assume everyone who pirates is a thief, its a stupid assumption...whether piracy is wrong depends on the circumstances and intentions of each individual.

@Kayweg So much to say, but i have said it all before, its getting tiring. For a start demos are not always available and reviews are not always reliable and spending money (games are very expensive IMO) on a game just based on a reviewers opinion is a bit of a gamble...same goes for videos, pics and the word of some other gamers, its not reliable and it is still very hard to know if you will like it without actually trying it out for yourself. If you want to buy a car you get to test drive it first, if you buy a house you get to look around. Some things you know what to expect so you dont need to try them, but other things you simply wouldn't spend money on unless you know your going to like it. It is like buying a painting without seeing it first or music without listening to it...its ridiculous to expect someone to do that, and its the same for games. What is wrong with simply downloading the game to try it out? as long as you have no intention of keeping it, then you will try it and then either buy the game or dont...in many cases it can actually lead to sales (but without trying the game that person might not have bought it). Another perfectly understandable reason is if a game is not available in your country...therefore you have two options, either miss out or pirate it, either way it would make no difference as they simply cannot purchase it legitimately, so what harm is done if they pirate in that situation?

Pc gaming will die eventually because of this, console gaming is where the money is. They need to come up with someway of stopping people playing copies that are not legit. I think all games should be online (who doesnt have a internet connection)and all games serial numbered. There must be a way of doing it to stop people copying games so easily, games like the Witcher 2 are those rare treasure games that don't come very often. Would be massive shame if they stopped all together because of low lives with no morals pirate games so they don't have to pay.

all you can do as an honest gamer is buy it and hope for the best. and i did and i got the best... :P

@GamerLegend10 There is no excuse or valid reasoning. You can play demos, read reviews, view pics and gameplay videos and talk to people who bought the game legit. To say pirating a game is ok (or even NEEDED) for making a qualified buying decision is ludicrous ! You don't walk into a store, snatch the wares and then decide at home if you wanna pay for 'em or just keep 'em. Theft is theft, m8...and you can turn and toss it all ya want.

So, they made something like 60 millions dollars. Even with dev, distribution and advertising costs, I'm pretty sure they made profit. That being said, they deserved more, as this game is one of the best RPG i've everplayed...

@Thigeic You took what I said the wrong way. In-fact, I own The Witcher 2 and will buy the Enhanced Edition again because I want to have both of them. I brought up the piracy rates STRICTLY because everyone was going to ignore this and talk about 4.5 million pirates which CDProjekt admitted was blatantly overblown by the agency they hired. And they were right. When the piracy rates were released they were FAR smaller then what was originally reported.

Basically...Pirates have a sense of entitlement. They never think nor care about all the hard work that goes into making a game (or movie...music...etc)...they only care about where they can get it for free. It's only when the gaming company decides to add some type of DRM, that it sparks moral outrage of "How dare you protect something that I should just be able to take!" Try that at your local store when you go grocery shopping. Walk in and grab a six pack of beer, some snacks and a frozen pizza and then just walk right out the front door. And when they stop you just vomit forth the same crap you spout when it comes to entertainment media. "But it should be free!" And the whole "I only pirate it to see if I like it and if I do I'll buy it" is horse crap. That's what demo's are for. If you are in a country where you have absolutely no access to a game, music or whatever it may be legally, then i can't judge you too harshly. If you life in the U.S., then there's no reason. Not enough money? Wait until it hits the bargain bin. Stealing is stealing however you want to sugar frost it. I know all of this falls on deaf ears but I just felt the need to say it anyway. I bought this game on day one and loved it. And, the fact that a company put their heart and soul into not just making a great single-player RPG but one that was FINALLY geared for adults, makes me shout "THANK YOU!" to these very deserving hard-working people. I look forward to your next epic story.

Piracy...plain and simple.

An awesome game like this only selling 1.5 million copies? Well, that's the thriving pc community for ya, lol. This game will probably sell that amount in the first month on the Xbox.

and sadly 6-10 million Pirated versions were downloaded , i'ts sad That Company who makes cool game 1.5 sold and "call Of Morons" get billions :(

This makes me sad. I've pirated stuff in the past but never thought of the consequences. Not that i'm older I tend to do it less. However its a sad day when a smaller studio suffers the effects this harshly. I really hope Cdprojekt make enough profits and continues to make awesome games.

This looks like it rocks. Hard.

I think a lot of people believe im all for piracy, which is not the case, but i am against the vast majority of anti piracy arguments as well as anti piracy laws which are complete BS. But in the end if you like a game, film or song then you should buy it (if possible), and thats your responsibility.

i paid for it on STEAM when the price dropped at XMAS...its the only way i buy games now. drop your prices to something reasonable and ill buy it, which i have, i own The Witcher 1 and 2 and they are amazing and i will be replaying the game again when the enhanced edition releases.

@Kayweg Its not nonsense at all, its completely true for a lot of people...i admit that not everyone has good or fair intentions when pirating, but dont throw everyone into one category, there are many reasons why a person would pirate, not all are doing it to get free stuff. Please dont misunderstand me, if assuming a lot of them were just doing it to save money then i think it is wrong (although possible individual circumstances & intentions should always be considered, also the figure of 4.5 million is questionable).

I agree, giving pirates that whole "moral speech" is a bit pathetic and completely pointless. That said, at least stand by what ya doing...this whole "i pirate and then buy the game if i like it" argument is nonsense. Nobody believes you anyway, even if you mean it. So grow a spine and just admit "i steal stuff". Kudos to CD Projekt for their non DRM approach. We'll see how long they can keep doing that.

When people will get better computers, the sales will go up. I will not purchase TW2AoK until I get a better computer... that means another year or so. Since I cannot play it on even on medium specs according to the technical requirements sheet.

TW2 is an amazing game, I think it could have get better sales with slightly lower system requirements. The fact that you really need a beast to max out gfx led many people to wait and simply jump on Skyrim

I despise anyone who steals games online. I bought this game even when I knew I was going to hate it. I was bought it only to satisfy my curiosity. I didn't know why it scored so high. I hate the game. I played maybe 8 hours and uninstalled it. But in the end I actually bought the game in hopes the company uses my money to make a better game. I think that's how it works. Or we can just let the developers lose money and their job and never make another game again. Don't support SOPA. Get a job you bums and support the community.

Witcher 2 had only one flaw --- It was too short. Just as it was getting to the climax it ends. Otherwise, Amazing game. Pirate haters make me lol. You rant and swear as if they care. In the end of the day, it's their money, not yours. CD Projekt still sold fairly well. and 4.5 million downloads means ALOT of publicity. expect Witcher 3 to have at least double those sales.

Any PC gamer who pirated Witcher 2 should hang his head in shame. For a developer to release a true PC game (unheard of nowadays) and a good one to boot, should be rewarded by the community they are loyal too. I'm chuffed for CD Projekt, hopefully they will continue to fly the PC gaming flag high and proud!

I bought a copy and my friend too, it was a great game, much better than the first one, though i liked the first one too. Hope to see another one in the future.

Earlier someone guestemated that 7-8% of the people playing pirated games would/might have bought the title, I think this is a very generous guess. I understand that the developers must make money to stay alive, but at $50 US and up for games there are just to many that can not under any circumstances purchase these games. Ergo they are not losing anything as the titles would not have been sold anyway.

isn't this like the most pirated game of '11? well I'm glad it did this much.

And I'm sure a large number of gamers more than this sell played the game! PC means pirate and ... you know! Great Game Great Sell!

The game is 4 years old and you still need a highend laptop to play this on decent settings. Could only play on medium with my brand new Toshiba with a GTX560M in 1600 x 900. But ofc on the other hand GTX560M is the same as HD5770 pc version.

Great! The game deserves great sales.

CD Projekt Red deserves every penny for these great games. Screw the pirates.

No surprise, the games were truly well done

@power_marks do you know there are sites that tell you if your system can run them game and how well it can so you don't need to pirate games and BREAK THE LAW to figure that out

sales is less because of HIGH SYSTEM REQUIREMENT..........My system c2d 2.33,9600GT,4gb ddr2 , i am getting only 11 to 12 fps in starting.....somewhere 20 to 18fps......I tested it using pirated copy....so there is no resion to buy this game until I upgrade my hardware. SKYRIM PC version sales multi million copies bcs this game run very well in my type system......i am getting 30 to 60 fps in medium setting.SO i preorder it.

@dj_pulserfan This got very little to do with how many % of invested in earned back, that do not matter, what matters is, that people pay for the product they enjoy. What you are saying is this: I'll pirate this game, because this other guy payed for it, so that means I don't need to. Seriously, how retarded is that? But I'm sure you'll be happy if you make a product and you go in a profit but 3times + steal your product and you see nothing for it.

Btw. Before everyone starts complaining about those piracy rates; they made over 110 million Zloty last year from a 30 million Zloty budget. Far as anyone is concerned that turned a hell of a profit. PC gaming dying LOL.

i bought the game pre launch for $39 on direct2drive was well worth it!

While the article simply states facts it almost naturally brings the conclusion that CD Projekt Red has been swindled of 4.5 million copies that would have sold if pirating had not occurred which is simply not true. I would put a high estimate at saying 7-8% of those people would have actually bought the game had it not been available through *other* means. Not really sure if I'm trying to make a point because I understand the concern even with those numbers, just sayin' I guess.

most people who pirate games do so with no plans on buying it and they do have an interest in the game if they didn't then they would have pirated it and I found the the word they are censoring it is the name of the user who said he pirated the game and then bought it

this sucks it wont let me post a comment that I wrote because it is censoring a word but it wont tell me which word it is

I paid for my copy! Worth every dime!

At least some players are waiting for the Enhanced Edition. The Witcher did not reach its true potential until the Enhanced Edition, and for many US gamers, until after the Director's Cut patch. I am waiting for all the goodies to come out before buying so I don't have to download gigabytes worth of additional content and find places to store them. That said, piracy hurts single player games on PC, especially ones without significant DRM. Although not all 4.5 million downloaders would have bought the Witcher 2, some would have. We shouldn't blame it all on people who released cracked copies, however. The bulk of the blame falls on those who download, play the whole game, but never buy. Others probably checked out a bit of the game but didn't like it. There are also certain games (not The Witcher 2 though the initial SecuROM isn't anything to be proud of and probably contributed to the piracy due to sheer spite) with DRM so draconian and offensive to gamer sensibility that some buyers download a cracked copy just in case the legitimate version becomes unplayable in the future. That does not make the action legal, of course, but a lot of folks won't have any moral objections against that.