Witcher 2 DLC to remain free on PC, same can't be said for Xbox 360
The Witcher 2's development director, Adam Badowski, has said that due to restrictive polices on Xbox 360, DLC for the game is unlikely to be free as it is on PC.
Speaking in an interview with RPS, Badowski said not being able to offer free content to its supporters is not something its takes likely either, as CD Projekt doesn't like seeing gamers "treated like dairy cows."
"We don’t see the idea as wrong, but we definitely don’t like to see gamers treated like dairy cows that are primed for milking," he said. "All too often, DLC is seen as an additional revenue opportunity. That’s not bad in itself – we’re not only in this industry to make games, we’re also here to do business. But we shouldn’t look at it exclusively from the latter angle, because that sometimes leads to decisions that could leave a bad taste in one’s mouth.
"If you only think about the business in terms of the money it can generate, I think you could come awfully close to forcing players to buy something additional in order to enjoy fully a game they just bought. And that’s simply not fair.
"Of course, it’s not always like that. There is interesting DLC out there, featuring a lot of new content (new areas, opponents, quests and so on), as well as DLC that is entirely optional, not needed to enjoy the game itself but valuable to the biggest fans. And it’s hard to blame game authors for charging for such things."
Badowski said all DLC for the PC version of The Witcher 2 will remain free, with a possible few exceptions.
"All DLC for the PC version is and will remain free," he said. "That’s not likely to be the story for the Xbox version, because of certain Microsoft policies that need to be followed. But on PC, once you buy our game, you don’t need to worry about any additional costs – we will provide all updates, including those featuring new content, for free.
"I think it’s reasonable than when you buy our product, you can expect us to service it for you quite a long time after release, though less intensively as time goes by. Any payable DLC that appears is likely to be a more classic expansion pack along the lines of, say, Baldur’s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast - but this is a purely theoretical discussion at this point, as we have yet to confirm or even plan any official expansion packs."
The Witcher 2 is out on Xbox 360 during Q1 2012, and will include the 2.0 update releasing for PC on September 29.