[GodefroydeBouillon]

For those wondering it says:

"Version 2.0 - New and Improved! (basically exactly what's written on The Witcher 2 site)

The RPG (genre) holds it's new champion - Joystick"

Is this Namco Bandai's way of re-DRMing up to 2.0 the retail copies of the European market? That's the only reason behind this relunch I can think of and it's only been 6 months so they can't even re-release it as a GOTY or "Epic Edition" or "Ultimate Edition" yet.

[Kitadol]

Does it include all the extras of the original edition?

Is it still full price?

I hope the game keeps selling . The game deserves to sell 3 million at least

[GodefroydeBouillon]

Kitadol said:

Is it still full price?

It costs either 40€ or 30£.

[Sirnaq]

I smell troll.

[Ranuncolo]

I found out, on the net, that the final price of The Witcher 2 should be 39 euros (about 29 pounds in UK)!

[JCJensen]

Re-DRMing? So they actually have to follow through with that? Thats complete BS!

[Thothistox]

Kitadol said:

Does it include all the extras of the original edition?

Is it still full price?

I hope the game keeps selling . The game deserves to sell 3 million at least ›››

I'm curious abut that too. Does anyone know how many they sold? All the data I've seen on the web is quite old and refers to the first month, but I'm sure people are still buying it.

[dragonbird]

The assumption is just that they've run out of stock from the earlier production runs, so they've manufactured new disks that are already 2.0.

I guess we'll need to wait and see what has happened with the DRM - obviously, they could have used this as an opportunity to put the DRM back in, but that would just drive customers across to the digital suppliers.

[GodefroydeBouillon]

JCJensen said:

Re-DRMing? So they actually have to follow through with that? Thats complete BS! ›››

Well it would be nice to get some clarifications on this point from CD Projekt if they know anything about that, but hey it's Namco Bandai they were pissed off when CDPR released the 1.1 patch that removed the DRM and also when CDPR secured the publishing rights of the Xbox 360 version in Europe to THQ instead of them, they also held 1.75 million in revenue that should had went to CDPR, there is also the lawsuit...

I doubt they are shelling out cash by making this 2.0 re-launch retail DRM-free, as a matter of fact the only launch version of The Witcher 2 that was DRM-free was the GoG version, all the other versions had some sort of DRM, the only reason the other versions aside from the GoG one can be played whitout the DRM is thanks to patch(es) that remove the DRM and improve the overall performance of the game considerably.

[Aaden]

GodefroydeBouillon said:

Well it would be nice to get some clarifications on this point from CD Projekt if they know anything about that, but hey it's Namco Bandai they were pissed off when CDPR released the 1.1 patch that removed the DRM and also when CDPR secured the publishing rights of the Xbox 360 version in Europe to THQ instead of them, they also held 1.75 million in revenue that should had went to CDPR, there is also the lawsuit...

I doubt they are shelling out cash by making this 2.0 re-launch retail DRM-free, as a matter of fact the only launch version of The Witcher 2 that was DRM-free was the GoG version, all the other versions had some sort of DRM, the only reason the other versions aside from the GoG one can be played whitout the DRM is thanks to patch(es) that remove the DRM and improve the overall performance of the game considerably. ›››

Since they're already on warpath with Namco Bandai, they could just release a 2.0a hotfix re-removing the DRM and putting a trollface plus "U MAD?" underneath NB's logo in the intro.

Anyways, I don't think it'll happen. There's plenty DRM-free versions available and the initial sales have passed for months. NB shouldn't have too much interest in protecting a new retail version.

[GodefroydeBouillon]

dragonbird said:

The assumption is just that they've run out of stock from the earlier production runs, so they've manufactured new disks that are already 2.0.

This relaunch is only for Europe and I have never seen this, usually the only time that games are manufactured to the newest up-to-date version is on the Complete Edition sets, such as Sacred 2 Gold Edition, Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition, Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga etc.

[GodefroydeBouillon]

Aaden said:

Anyways, I don't think it'll happen. There's plenty DRM-free versions available and the initial sales have passed for months. NB shouldn't have too much interest in protecting a new retail version. ›››

Common sense would dictate this, but with corporates you can never be too sure. For Dragon Age: Origins had no DRM, Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition had DRM, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion had no DRM, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY had DRM.

[dragonbird]

GodefroydeBouillon said:

This relaunch is only for Europe and I have never seen this, usually the only time that games are manufactured to the newest up-to-date version is on the Complete Edition sets, such as Sacred 2 Gold Edition, Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition, Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga etc. ›››

Yes, but other devs don't bring out free updates the way that CDPR does. If they have simply run out of stock, it makes sense to manufacture the new batch with the new version - the effort involved is minimal, and it does give them additional marketing push.

What I can't do from this is read what, if anything, it says about Namco's view on the court case. On the one hand, they may be pushing for a final round of sales before losing the rights, on the other hand it may mean that they're confident of winning and are planning ahead accordingly.

I'm also unsure on what would be the sensible business decision on the DRM, but "sensible" rarely seems to apply to companies' decisions on DRM anyway.

Guess we'll still need to wait and see.

(Incidentally, the fact that it's Europe Only does match "running out of stock", since this would affect only Namco and not necessarily Atari.)

[Elves4me2]

GodefroydeBouillon said:

It costs either 40€ or 30£. ›››

When the Witcher 2 came out i paid almost 50 or 60€ (can't remember i was just so exited to get it ) for it (the black box edition) Now in steam 39,99€

[Aditya_the_warrior_within]

please make the collector's edition available worldwide, only the retail (heck not even premium!) is available here (in india)
heck I still hope CDPR start their own store in the future after TW2 is 'completely done', especially for this issue :/

[JackintheGreen]

This hit the shelves like 2 weeks ago, in the city where I live (Buenos Aires- Argentina), hardly "Europe" for distribution rights... Is Namco allowed to sell it in Latinamerica? I hardly think so...

The edition is one disk only, and requires internet connection for registering.
The tag reads: "Witcher 2/ Action-Rol. Namco". Prize is aprox. 30 dollars, which is insanely cheap for a AAA game here...

[Saoe]

2.0 update makes it even better value for money!

I want Gerald to have face from the cover in TW3 (mean m*f'er)

[dragonbird]

JackintheGreen said:

This hit the shelves like 2 weeks ago, in the city where I live (Buenos Aires- Argentina), hardly "Europe" for distribution rights... Is Namco allowed to sell it in Latinamerica? I hardly think so...

›››

Yes, they are. They're the distributor for everywhere except North America. (And maybe Africa. I don't know about Africa).

[GodefroydeBouillon]

Anyone in the UK or France that picked up the version 2 release? Does it have DRM in it?

[secondchildren]

GodefroydeBouillon said:

Anyone in the UK or France that picked up the version 2 release? Does it have DRM in it? ›››

It should not, since they've been removed since patch 1.2. If the retail version contains all the bonus content since the very first version, I can't see any reason for adding DMR again.