Cyberpunk 2077 VR modder doesn't rule out releasing it for free after DMCA, claims there was "no negotiation" with CD Projekt

According to Luke Ross, piracy has led re-releasing the mod for free to "kind of become a moot point"

Following a mod which provides VR support for Cyberpunk 2077 was hit with a takedown request by CD Projekt, its creator has now said that they've not ruled out the possibility of releasing it for free. However, they've painted that as an unlikely road to go down, arguing that it's "kind of become a moot point" due to piracy of their work following the strike.

The fact Luke Ross' R.E.A.L VR mod for Cyberpunk, which is one arm of a wider VR support framework for a wide range of games, was behind a paywall appeared to be the crux of CD Projekt's decision to strike it. The studio's business development vice president Jan Rosner claimed in a post that they offered Ross the option of making it free and switching the paywall for optional donations, in line with their guidelines for fan-made content.

Speaking to IGN, Ross has now offered a bit more of their side of the story. According to the modder, they had "absolutely no say" in pulling the Cyberpunk VR mod from Patreon, instead claiming the platform yanked it down automatically in response to the strike being filed. Ross said he reached out to CD Projekt to try and "negotiate" with the studio about the takedown, to which he alleges CD Projekt simply replied telling him he needed to comply with their terms of service.

There was "no negotiation, no comments on my proposals, no interest for instance in knowing how many of their users would be affected by the sudden removal," according to the modder. Interestingly, Ross also claims to have reached out to CD Projekt back in 2022 to ask if the Cyberpunk developers would be interested in turning the mod into an official VR port for the game, an offer the studio declined according to the modder.

I've reached out to CD Projekt for comment.

As for the situation as it stands, Ross told IGN he's not ruled out releasing the mod for free, 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". The modder also cited the potential for such a move not being popular with people who've already paid to support their work on the R.E.A.L VR framework.

"Anyway, it's kind of become a moot point," Ross continued. "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 terms of service, my work is now fair game and I should be punished by having it stolen."

For now, it seems Ross' Cyberpunk VR mod is set to remain taken down, and we'll have to see whether in the wake of alleged piracy and a visible number of negative comments directed at the modder, they decide to change that further down the line.