The creator of the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod CD Projekt recently hit with a DMCA strike has paused his Patreon page and pulled access to all his mods after receiving another strike from a different publisher.
Looks like the Ghostrunner developers also have an issue with paid mods running off their IP.
You’re also not entitled to modify (which is what mod is short for) someone else’s work and sell it. If they allow you to then great, go for it if you want. However, you don’t get to complain when they say no. They can still ask for donations, which is what most modders do.
The argument for these VR mods not running afoul of copyright law as it currently exists is that they’re more like an emulator that supports a significant number of games and don’t really modify the game itself at all. Obviously game companies tend to hate emulators too and have even tried to go after them so you probably can’t trust their judgement on this.
You could even draw parallels here to something like Google’s recently announced autospatialization feature of Android XR that will make it possible to play any game (in theory, in practice some games will probably work better than others) with 3D visuals. Google certainly isn’t offering that for free since it only works on an Android device that they get paid for because it is using their software.
You should be, what’s the difference between selling modification to other things that people do all the time. Cars, instruments, music, phones, software and 5 million other things.
They are not selling their work, they are selling their own work, they are not selling the game with the mod, their are selling a mod to the game.
It’s just that gaming companies are dickheads and want to have exclusive rights to having a market around their products.
Of course you get to complain, why shouldn’t you complain if you don’t like something and think it’s unfair. Wether it’s legitimate or not you should complain, then if someone listens or not thats another question.
You don’t have to buy mods, dude there are plenty of mods that are free, but if someone wants to sell it why not. The only thing that will happen is that you will have more quality mods, paid or free. Then there’s the question if you have exclusive rights to a mod, I would say no, anyone should be able to copy your mod.
The difference is the game developers have put in extra work in order to make their games easily moddable. Your car didn’t. Developers don’t have to add mod support, but then it usually becomes incredibly difficult to modify.
They put extra effort in to allow people to create stuff using their game. It’s like using any other software as a tool; you need to follow their rules for using it. This could mean paying a licensing fee, or it could mean making it open source, or whatever else they may decide. You’re using their tools, so their rules have to be followed.
That doesn’t really apply in the case of this particular type of mod though. They don’t go out of their way to support these VR mods in any special way.
What are you talking about, have you ever heard of after market products. There’s a reason why certain industries design there products to allow third party vendors to sell after market components, it makes them more popular by consumers.
Dude you are just making shit up as you go, what you are saying makes no sense.
I extend functionality of existing software products for B2B as a living, no one would buy their products if they didn’t allow them to be extended.
Let’s take your assumption to the end result; the developer has no control over mod distribution. Let’s make up a hypothetical (which has happened before) where someone is distributing malware with their mod. Does the developer have no authority to take it down?
Mods, whether you like it or not, do reflect back on the developer. If there’s a scandal of bad behavior, it’ll effect their sales. Also, if payed mods become the standard it’ll effect their sales, as people will be less likely to deal with modding. I have no issue with mod developers making money from their product, but they must also recognize that it’s with the support of the developers of the game. If they decide to remove your mod they can, in many ways.
What kind of argument is this, spreading malware is illegal. And how does that reflect on the game studio; none at all. The mod you are proposing is illegal, no you are not allowed to spread malware via mods, what do you want me to say?
For arguments sake spreading malware via mods is legal, does it reflect bad on the game studio? No, not if you are older than 10 dude, if you don’t know the difference between original content and user made content, you will probably have a hard time installing a mod.
If I spread malware via images of La Lakers, does that reflect bad on LA Lakers.
You do realize that cd projekt red are doing a DMCA request, because it’s a logical economical choice for them, and has nothing to do with the quality of work. Because the mod is only enabling people to play with VR. And CD project red has the benefit either A modder gives it out for free, CD project red gets free content, B they can after a while release their own paid version of Cyberpunk with VR (like 50 other game titles).
There’s no legal basis for the DMCA, the guy says he can’t afford a legal battle with a huge company.
You’re also not entitled to modify (which is what mod is short for) someone else’s work and sell it. If they allow you to then great, go for it if you want. However, you don’t get to complain when they say no. They can still ask for donations, which is what most modders do.
The argument for these VR mods not running afoul of copyright law as it currently exists is that they’re more like an emulator that supports a significant number of games and don’t really modify the game itself at all. Obviously game companies tend to hate emulators too and have even tried to go after them so you probably can’t trust their judgement on this.
You could even draw parallels here to something like Google’s recently announced autospatialization feature of Android XR that will make it possible to play any game (in theory, in practice some games will probably work better than others) with 3D visuals. Google certainly isn’t offering that for free since it only works on an Android device that they get paid for because it is using their software.
You should be, what’s the difference between selling modification to other things that people do all the time. Cars, instruments, music, phones, software and 5 million other things.
They are not selling their work, they are selling their own work, they are not selling the game with the mod, their are selling a mod to the game.
It’s just that gaming companies are dickheads and want to have exclusive rights to having a market around their products.
Of course you get to complain, why shouldn’t you complain if you don’t like something and think it’s unfair. Wether it’s legitimate or not you should complain, then if someone listens or not thats another question.
You don’t have to buy mods, dude there are plenty of mods that are free, but if someone wants to sell it why not. The only thing that will happen is that you will have more quality mods, paid or free. Then there’s the question if you have exclusive rights to a mod, I would say no, anyone should be able to copy your mod.
The difference is the game developers have put in extra work in order to make their games easily moddable. Your car didn’t. Developers don’t have to add mod support, but then it usually becomes incredibly difficult to modify.
They put extra effort in to allow people to create stuff using their game. It’s like using any other software as a tool; you need to follow their rules for using it. This could mean paying a licensing fee, or it could mean making it open source, or whatever else they may decide. You’re using their tools, so their rules have to be followed.
That doesn’t really apply in the case of this particular type of mod though. They don’t go out of their way to support these VR mods in any special way.
What are you talking about, have you ever heard of after market products. There’s a reason why certain industries design there products to allow third party vendors to sell after market components, it makes them more popular by consumers.
Dude you are just making shit up as you go, what you are saying makes no sense.
I extend functionality of existing software products for B2B as a living, no one would buy their products if they didn’t allow them to be extended.
Let’s take your assumption to the end result; the developer has no control over mod distribution. Let’s make up a hypothetical (which has happened before) where someone is distributing malware with their mod. Does the developer have no authority to take it down?
Mods, whether you like it or not, do reflect back on the developer. If there’s a scandal of bad behavior, it’ll effect their sales. Also, if payed mods become the standard it’ll effect their sales, as people will be less likely to deal with modding. I have no issue with mod developers making money from their product, but they must also recognize that it’s with the support of the developers of the game. If they decide to remove your mod they can, in many ways.
What kind of argument is this, spreading malware is illegal. And how does that reflect on the game studio; none at all. The mod you are proposing is illegal, no you are not allowed to spread malware via mods, what do you want me to say?
For arguments sake spreading malware via mods is legal, does it reflect bad on the game studio? No, not if you are older than 10 dude, if you don’t know the difference between original content and user made content, you will probably have a hard time installing a mod.
If I spread malware via images of La Lakers, does that reflect bad on LA Lakers.
You do realize that cd projekt red are doing a DMCA request, because it’s a logical economical choice for them, and has nothing to do with the quality of work. Because the mod is only enabling people to play with VR. And CD project red has the benefit either A modder gives it out for free, CD project red gets free content, B they can after a while release their own paid version of Cyberpunk with VR (like 50 other game titles).
There’s no legal basis for the DMCA, the guy says he can’t afford a legal battle with a huge company.