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CD Projekt issuing DMCA strikes to stop Gwent source code social media posts

Follows this being stolen in a cyberattack earlier in February

CD Projekt issuing DMCA strikes to stop Gwent source code social media posts

Polish giant CD Projekt has apparently been turning to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) to take down tweets featuring stolen information about its games.

That's according to Vice, which says that the firm has been in touch with at least two Twitter users about taking down tweets featuring information about the source code of its free-to-play card game, Gwent. One user received an email letting them know about the takedown notice as they had tweeted a link to a torrent for the source code. This email also featured links to tweets to three other users who had posted about Gwent's source code.

"Description of infringement: Illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game," the DMCA takedown notice reportedly said.

"Posted without authorisation, not intended to be released to the public."

Under attack

This comes in the wake of CD Projekt being hit by a cyberattack on February 8th, with hackers managing to steal the source code for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, an updated version of the blockbuster RPG featuring raytracing support, as well as Cyberpunk 2077 and Gwent. That's on top of internal documents relating to CD Projekt's accounting, admin, legal, HR and investor relations departments.

The source code for Gwent was quickly leaked onto sites including 4chan and Mega, while those for Cyberpunk 2077 and both versions of The Witcher 3 were put up for auction on February 10th. The following day they were sold, presumably for the $7 million "buy now" fee.

While the Gwent source code is seemingly widely available, the sale of the Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 source code was conditional on it not being distributed any further. So odds are we're not going to see that popping up on social media any time soon.

This story first appeared on PCGamesInsider.biz.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.