As CD Projekt hits a Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod with a DMCA takedown over being locked behind a paywall, its creator says "I don't believe you are within your rights in demanding that my software needs to be free."
The famed VR mode modder known as Luke Ross has been adding VR support to popular games for years now – his R.E.A.L VR mod framework has been applied to everything from Elden Ring to Final Fantasy 7 Remake, GTA 5, and Red Dead Redemption 2. Those latter two were also hit with a DMCA takedown back in 2022, and now, Ross has found himself in a similar situation.
"CD PROJEKT S.A. decided that they would follow in Take-Two Interactive Software's steps and issued a DMCA notice against me for the removal of the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod," Ross writes in a Patreon post. "At least they were a little more open about it, and I could get a reply both from their legal department and from the VP of business development. But 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 that modders do must be absolutely for free."
Ross claims that "as usual they stretch the concept of 'derivative work' until it's paper-thin, as though a system that allows visualizing 40+ games in fully immersive 3D VR was somehow built making use of their intellectual property," adding that "they cannot just be grateful about the extra copies of the title they sold" because of the mod. According to the modder, CD Projekt Red is "not planning to release their own VR port," either.
"Am I a little bitter about all of this? Yeah, you bet I am," he adds.
Over on Twitter, CD Projekt Red's vice president of business development, Jan Rosner, sheds a bit more light on the situation. "We have indeed issued a DMCA strike, as it was available as a paid mod (only accessible to Patreon subscribers). This directly violates our Fan Content Guidelines: we never allow monetization of our IP without our direct permission and/or an agreement in place," he explains. "We were in touch with Luke last week and informed him that he needs to make it free for everyone (with optional donations) or remove it.
"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. 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."
Ross isn't totally accepting of this response, though. After thanking Rosner, he states: "I'm sorry but I don't believe you are within your rights in demanding that my 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."
He continues: "That said, I'm all for finding a win-win solution that makes it possible for your fans to keep enjoying Night City from the inside, in VR, but at the same time without causing harm to our respective interests. I said that in 2022 when we contacted you with the proposal of making the mod 'official' or at least sanctioned by your company, and I said the same last week when we spoke, almost four years later. I think the current state of affairs is not the best way to resolve this misunderstanding."
At the time of writing, Ross charges a monthly $10 fee on Patreon for access to all his VR mods. Back in 2022, The Verge reported that the modder made $20,000 a month from this, although of course this could have changed (for better or worse) in the years since. Certainly, though, this figure demonstrates the demand for his mods.
Regardless, it doesn't sound like Ross is willing to backtrack and make Cyberpunk 2077's VR mod available for free. In his Patreon post discussing the DMCA takedown, it's clear that he's already got his sights set on other things – namely, a Baldur's Gate 3 VR mod, which he's released in its current state already. "Maybe it will be a little rough around the edges, but we'll take care of that, as we always do."
