Luke Ross, the maker of the R.E.A.L. VR mod framework, is saying that pirates are punishing him by sharing around his since-taken down Cyberpunk 2077 VR paid mod. He was forced to take it down as it violated CD Projekt Red’s fan content ToS.
Speaking to IGN, Ross spoke about the aftermath, with people now sharing the mod around, once again putting the spotlight on how this is CDPR’s fault rather than his own for not complying with its ToS.
“Anyway, it’s kind of become a moot point, because following to the unexpected DMCA strike, after the mod was forcibly removed from my Patreon, people afraid of losing VR support for their favorite games have started pirating and illegally exchanging the mod all over the Internet, brazenly saying that since I was not complying with CDPR’s ToS, my work is now fair game and I should be punished by having it stolen. So in a sense CDPR already got what they wanted.”
Ross has admitted that making the mod free is something he hasn’t totally ruled out, but it would take time due to R.E.A.L. VR supporting 40+ games and he’d have to make a version that only supports Cyberpunk 2077, calling it a “non-trivial task.” He also asserted those who bought into his Patreon wouldn’t be happy seeing the mod — even a nerfed version, we suppose — of it going for free because he was “bullied into it.” That said,
“I do not rule out releasing the mod free for everyone. But it would take time, because my software supports 40+ games and various completely different engines, which makes creating a version that specifically supports only Cyberpunk 2077 a non-trivial task. Also, the people who have voluntarily given their money to me in order to support my development efforts for the framework might not be happy about seeing the mod being given away all of a sudden to everyone just because I’ve been bullied into it.”
