CD Projekt Issues DMCA for Cyberpunk 2077 VR Mod

CD Projekt has issued a DMCA takedown against a modder known as LukeRoss for their VR version of Cyberpunk 2077. In a post on their Patreon, LukeRoss said there had been an "ongoing legal exchange" leading to a DMCA notice being issued and the subsequent takedown of the VR mod. "In the end it amounted to the same iron-clad corpo logic: every little action that a company takes is in the name of money, but everything modders do must be absolutely free," they wrote. "As usual they stretch the concept of 'derivative work' until it's paper-thin, as though a system that allows visualising 40+ games in fully immersive 3D VR was somehow built making use of their intellectual property." This is in reference to the creator's R.E.A.L. VR mod framework, which provides support to numerous titles including Elden Ring, Far Cry, and Marvel's Spider-Man. It previously supported Grand Theft Auto 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the Mafia Trilogy. These mods were taken down in 2022 following a DMCA notice issued by Take-Two Interactive. CD Projekt Red VP of business development Jan Rosner confirmed that it had issued a DMCA strike, due the mod only being made available as a paid product. "This directly violates our Fan Content Guidelines: we never allow monetisation of our IP without direct permission and/or an agreement in place," wrote Rosner. Rosner said CD Projekt asked LukeRoss to either make the mod free with optional donations or remove it altogether. "We are big fans of mods to our games – some of the work out there has been nothing short of amazing, including Luke's mod for Cyberpunk 2077," Rosner continued. "We'd be happy to see it return as a free release. "However, making a profit from our IP, in any form, always requires permission from CD Projekt Red." GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to CD Projekt for further comment on the matter. In response, LukeRoss said he doesn't believe CD Projekt "are within [its] rights to demand that [the] software needs to be free." "It is not 'derivative work' or 'fan content': it supports a large number of games which were built upon different engines, and it contains absolutely zero code or assets from your IP."