Pirated version of Cyberpunk 2077 found on Amazon India

In one of the strangest developments so far, pirated copies of the Cyberpunk 2077 PC version have been circulating on Amazon India.

This perplexing find was made by IGN India, who have since reached out to Amazon India and CD Projekt Red for comments.

While pirating in the gaming industry is a prevalent practice, and indeed Cyberpunk 2077 was pirated merely hours after launch, to find pirated copies sold on Amazon is very peculiar.

We‘re not fans of DRM, no need to be worried.

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) May 19, 2020

It was listed and sold by a vendor, IGN Digitals, which shares no connection with the actual IGN, an American video game and entertainment media website.

The product is priced at ₹4,999 and is being sold at a discounted price of ₹ 1,750.

The pirated copy of Cyberpunk 2077 (Image via Amazon India)

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Cyberpunk 2077 goes gold for the second time

To make things even weirder, the seller stated that the version being sold was a 'Gold Master' version. In short, gold master is a release milestone that passes all of a publisher and platform's requirements.

It is often considered as the finished game that can be replicated and sold commercially. However, bugs and other technical issues are more than likely still present in this version.

Cyberpunk 2077 has gone gold! 📀See you in Night City on November 19th! pic.twitter.com/s6U266Y1fp

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) October 5, 2020

Why people would even want to buy this version of Cyberpunk 2077 is also a mystery!

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Why was Cyberpunk 2077 DRM free?

CDPR has been called the good guys of the gaming industry for a while now. While Cyberpunk 2077 may have damaged the studio's reputation, gamers cannot forget the gestures of goodwill in the recent past.

The studio gives out free DLCs and makes its expansions feel like games of their own. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt's DLCs — Blood & Wine and Hearts of Stone — prove the company's generosity.

Review: The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine expansion concludes Geralt's saga memorably. https://t.co/7xDhfag4iP pic.twitter.com/KHW5UTOtWH

— GameSpot (@GameSpot) June 1, 2016

CDPR's own digital distribution platform, GOG, offers DRM-free games.

DRM free pc games 😁#SeduceSomeoneInFourWords pic.twitter.com/9qiXF6pAPs

— GOG.COM (@GOGcom) January 16, 2020

When asked about the issue of piracy at infoShare 2016, Marcin Iwinski, co-founder of GOG and CD Projekt Red, stated:

"We released The Witcher 3 without any copy protection, and still we sold near to ten-million units across all three platforms. But the piracy factor was irrelevant because we cannot force people to buy things. We can only convince them to do it."

Iwiński stated that years of building this sort of brand loyalty and respect towards fans have helped CDPR cement its reputation within the gaming community.

"Funnily enough, the more we proceed this way, the more we see gamers on forums and Reddit and whatnot asking people to go buy our games. Occasionally, there will be a comment saying, 'hey, where can I download Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from?' And then there will be people bashing the person, saying not to pirate the game. While I cannot be sure if the person bought or pirated the game eventually, but to see fans support our hard work means a lot to us."

According to SuperData's latest report, Cyberpunk 2077, CDPRs latest game, has sold over 10 million units digitally on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. These figures alone stand testament to Iwinski's statements and the studio's DRM-free policy.