Two weeks ago, CD Projekt announced that it had been hacked and that a lot of data had been stolen. The hackers demanded a ransom while threatening to sell the data to the highest bidders. The developer refused, and recently we discovered that some source codes had been up for auction.
Now, some of the data is actually circulating on the Internet. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, CD Projekt has appealed to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, hoping that it will make it possible to remove the related publications, especially on Twitter. Vice was able to get hold of the e-mail sent to the violators, which includes the following:
“Description of infringement: Illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. Posted without authorization, not intended to be released to the public.”
One of the people who received this type of email confirmed that he had published a link to download the game’s source code. However, GamesIndustry indicates that the thieves did not validate the auction, a third party has bought the data for an unknown sum. As a reminder, the stolen data includes the source codes of Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, and an ” unreleased version ” of The Witcher 3.
DMCA takedowns have long been a go-to legal tool for companies looking to control their intellectual property and how it’s used.
It’s very difficult to stop any information from spreading online once it’s available, so CD Projekt’s actions are likely to be in vain. At best, it may deter some people from deciding to share links or indeed download the source code themselves. It’s also important to keep in mind that some of the torrents claiming to be CD Projekt’s source code may include malware.
CD Projekt Red continues working on updates to improve Cyberpunk 2077, as its public image took a huge hit in December when the game was released in a borderline-broken state.