Renowned virtual reality modder Luke Ross revealed yesterday that his Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod was taken down after a DMCA request from the game's developer, CD Projekt RED.
The mod allowed virtual reality gamers to experience the splendor of Night City through their headsets, significantly increasing immersion. It was originally released in late February 2022, so it's not like it's anything new. It is unclear exactly what prompted CDPR to take action now; perhaps they were simply unaware so far, and someone brought the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod to their attention just recently.
And no, it's not that the game development studio is working on an official VR mode for their game. Luke Ross says that explicitly, having actually been able to talk this through with CDPR's VP of business development and legal department (unlike what happened a few years ago with Take-Two's DMCA takedown of his Red Dead Redemption 2, Grand Theft Auto V, and Mafia Definitive Edition VR mods, when Ross couldn't get through to anyone there).
The VR modder was very bitter in his Patreon post, complaining about the 'duplicity with which the corpo mind thinks and reacts. The bottom line is all that matters, and gamers be damned.' That said, looking at the comments on Reddit, forum boards, and social media, many gamers are not very surprised. Companies can't allow others to profit from their own IPs without a license, after all, and this could have been avoided if Ross simply released the mod for free and then asked for donations to his Patreon.
CD Projekt RED doesn't have any problem with free mods, as evidenced by their support of the modding communities of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. They even released the full mod tools (REDkit) for the former a couple of years ago, encouraging more modders to tinker with the game. Cyberpunk 2077 is the fastest-growing game on Nexus by mod downloads, having just surpassed Fallout: New Vegas and being only behind Skyrim (both base and Special Edition) and Fallout 4 when it comes to total mod downloads.
The Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod was instead hidden behind the paywall, though, which prompted the legal action. That said, the modder isn't quitting. In fact, he just released a new VR mod for Larian's Baldur's Gate 3, a challenging proposition since it uses an isometric-style camera (albeit in a fully 3D game) that the modder hadn't yet converted to virtual reality. Once again, though, it is locked behind the paywall, potentially inviting legal action by license holder Wizards of the Coast.
In other news, VR gaming just took a major hit, with Meta shutting down three of its studios (Sanzaru Games, Twisted Pixel, and Armature Studio) as part of its 10% layoffs at the Reality Labs division. Camouflaj, the developer behind République, Iron Man VR, and Batman: Arkham Shadow, was also affected by layoffs, canceling its Arkham Shadow sequel and reportedly abandoning any future VR gaming projects.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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