I’d like to briefly address the discussion around the “Cyberpunk VR” mod created by Luke Ross. 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. 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
@CDPROJEKTRED
So they offered this guy to make it free with donations, which is reasonable in my opinion, and he said no.
Just a small detail that doesn’t look considered, if you ear only one side of the story.
The "Cyberpunk VR” mod is not actually a "Cyberpunk VR” mod, but a framework that came to support Cyberpunk after many other games (like GTAV). If you’re still okey, bear in mind the same logic may apply to Loseless Scaling (sold for ~7€ on Steam) and 3DSen (sold for ~13€ on Steam) or you need to take VR Injection Framework apart from Loseless Scaling and 3DSen.
3DSen is based on reverse engineering and not IP since it’s not selling the ROMs that come with it. All completely legal to sell and don’t mind buying to support this guy’s reverse engineering and transformation effort. If it was just some stock NES emulator that he was selling, eh, I’d probably just say legal but bullshit.
Lossless Scaling is a tool/actual framework that uses released/open source API calls to apply frame gen to any game, as far as I know and that’s not violating any terms or conditions or IP either.
With this, while I can appreciate that he’s done this for other game, the terms and conditions for them is “don’t use our tools to sell mods”. Do I agree with it? Actually yes, for the most part. I’m of the firm belief that the modding community should be open, I think that these are things that should be done for passion, I like having donations set up, and that we’re lucky that we live in an age that many game companies are kind enough to release modding tools without demanding a license fee. Plus he’s not selling a framework here, he’s selling his framework built with a company’s tools that says “No paid mods because we think the modding community should be open”.
I think that IP is often tricky and I think that this is fine and not a slippery slope argument.
I think there are still misconception: CDProject was smart, albeit dishonest, into presenting the whole thing as “Cyberpunk’s Mod”; so, you (as general and misguided reader) inclined to think the modder took something from CDProject and generate something from thin air… added games are just icying on the cake.
The framework was already setup and working for several games even before Cyberpunk addition.
What is CDProject doing here is just some PR magic to blameshift their actual responsibility: they didn’t ask the modder to remove support for Cyberpunk, they went on and sink down is whole business by addressing directly another company (Patron) which are more “sensitive” to business and discuss less.
Similar to something like VorpX, except it doesn’t have a unified front end, so it can’t be called a program, it has to be called a mod package or mod suite. So it falls under different rules for an arbitrary reason.
So they offered this guy to make it free with donations, which is reasonable in my opinion, and he said no.
Given that, I’m okay with this DCMA.
Just a small detail that doesn’t look considered, if you ear only one side of the story. The "Cyberpunk VR” mod is not actually a "Cyberpunk VR” mod, but a framework that came to support Cyberpunk after many other games (like GTAV). If you’re still okey, bear in mind the same logic may apply to Loseless Scaling (sold for ~7€ on Steam) and 3DSen (sold for ~13€ on Steam) or you need to take VR Injection Framework apart from Loseless Scaling and 3DSen.
I think you’re missing some nuance here.
3DSen is based on reverse engineering and not IP since it’s not selling the ROMs that come with it. All completely legal to sell and don’t mind buying to support this guy’s reverse engineering and transformation effort. If it was just some stock NES emulator that he was selling, eh, I’d probably just say legal but bullshit.
Lossless Scaling is a tool/actual framework that uses released/open source API calls to apply frame gen to any game, as far as I know and that’s not violating any terms or conditions or IP either.
With this, while I can appreciate that he’s done this for other game, the terms and conditions for them is “don’t use our tools to sell mods”. Do I agree with it? Actually yes, for the most part. I’m of the firm belief that the modding community should be open, I think that these are things that should be done for passion, I like having donations set up, and that we’re lucky that we live in an age that many game companies are kind enough to release modding tools without demanding a license fee. Plus he’s not selling a framework here, he’s selling his framework built with a company’s tools that says “No paid mods because we think the modding community should be open”.
I think that IP is often tricky and I think that this is fine and not a slippery slope argument.
I think there are still misconception: CDProject was smart, albeit dishonest, into presenting the whole thing as “Cyberpunk’s Mod”; so, you (as general and misguided reader) inclined to think the modder took something from CDProject and generate something from thin air… added games are just icying on the cake.
The framework was already setup and working for several games even before Cyberpunk addition.
What is CDProject doing here is just some PR magic to blameshift their actual responsibility: they didn’t ask the modder to remove support for Cyberpunk, they went on and sink down is whole business by addressing directly another company (Patron) which are more “sensitive” to business and discuss less.
This needs to be far more visible
No it doesn’t.
How is the VR Mod listed? Does it use other trademarks/copyrights to advertise or sell this product?
Cyberpunk 2077 VR Mod
Or is it listed generically as VR Framework Mod for games.
Generically, as a framework for 35 games.
Similar to something like VorpX, except it doesn’t have a unified front end, so it can’t be called a program, it has to be called a mod package or mod suite. So it falls under different rules for an arbitrary reason.