GOG-Games.com switched to the dark web this week. The video game hacking site took this drastic action after legal pressure from the game company CD Projekt, known for The Witcher series. The Polish company also owns the GOG game distribution service, which explains why GOG-Games is considered a prime execution target.
As creator of The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077, game developer cd project won the hearts of millions of gamers.
The Polish company also scored points when it spoke out against DRM on numerous occasions, including the 'FCKDRM' campaign promoted by its game distribution service GOG.
The anti-DRM stance is laudable but also has its drawbacks. In particular, it becomes much easier for pirates to copy and share games. And indeed, new GOG games were quickly shared online, even on a site that even copied their name: GOG-Games.com.
CD Project probably anticipated that their games would be pirated, but seeing a site use their own brand to promote pirated games must have stung. As a result, the video game company has worked hard to pull the plug on GOG-Games.
GOG-Gaming under pressure
Earlier this week, those efforts seemed to pay off when GOG-Games replaced its game repository with a new that indicated serious problems.
According to the operators, CD Projekt's GOG team has been trying to take the site offline since 2011. Since GOG-Games uses a host that simply ignores DMCA notices, the results have been limited, but more recently, the site was contacted directly. administrator.
โ[S]Someone from your legal team sent a 'DMCA: Final Call' email directly to our site administrator's email address,โ the notice reveals.
The email in question was not addressed directly to the site operators, but to the hosting company. He points out that GOG-Games violates GOG's copyrights and trademarks, urging the provider to take action.
โThe website is in breach of GOG's word by using it to rate an illegal game download operation by CD PROJEKT Group and third parties. The website also infringes CD PROJEKT SA trademarks and copyrights relating to CD PROJEKT SA games; The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077โ.
โWe are extremely determined to shut down the aforementioned website and would like to ask you to treat the situation with the utmost importance,โ the email added.
Fearing that the game company could eventually file a lawsuit against the hosting provider, or worse, GOG-Games.com decided to voluntarily go offline. At least for the moment.
โWe will treat this matter seriously. As such, we abide by the DMCA notice and all copyrighted content becomes inaccessible,โ the GOG-Games team announced.
The site's operators apologized to people who have donated in the past, but also offered assurances that this would not necessarily be the end. The operators were considering moving to the dark web, protecting their hosting location.
GOG-Games moves to the Dark Web
The plan was more concrete than the message suggested. Just hours after the 'removal' announcement first appeared, it was already replaced by another, noting that the site was once again accessible on the dark web.
From what we can see, the dark web version of the site is still working as before, offering a library of hacked games.
Commenting on recent developments, a spokesperson for CD Projekt's GOG platform informed TorrentFreak that it has a player-centric approach, while respecting rights holders.
โPiracy totally goes against those values โโand undermines the great work that developers and publishers do to create games that we and our community appreciate. With that being said, we are monitoring pirate sites that violate player experience and are taking the necessary action.
โEach case is treated individually, and the GOG-games.com case is not an exemption from that rule,โ the spokesperson added, noting that the company will continue to investigate this issue.
