Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod flatlines, after CD Projekt file DMCA strike and request its creator drop their paywall

A mod providing VR support for Cyberpunk 2077 is no more, after CD Projekt issued a takedown notice they claim hinged on them not being happy that the mod’s creator had stuck it behind a paywall. In response, modder Luke Ross has accused the company of being all about making money.

“Many of you have noticed that two of my recent posts disappeared about a week ago. I apologize that I could not comment personally about the fact, because there was an ongoing legal exchange,” Ross wrote in a Patreon post over the weekend. “Now that the dust has settled, I’m even more sorry to announce that we are leaving behind an adventure that so many of you deeply loved and enjoyed. CD PROJEKT S.A. decided that they would follow in Take-Two Interactive Software’s steps and issued a DMCA notice against me for the removal of the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod.”

This Cyberpunk VR mod is actually just one limb of Ross’ creation, which is dubbed R.E.A.L. VR and essentially serves as a framework offering various VR support forks for a bunch of different games. In order to grab Cyberpunk VR, folks have had to take out a paid subscription to Ross’ Patreon (the modder does also list some works for free on Github). That, according to a post from CD Projekt business development vice president Jan Rosner, was the crux of this takedown strike.

“We have indeed issued a DMCA strike, as it was available as a paid mod (only accessible to Patreon subscribers),” Rosner wrote. “This directly violates our Fan Content Guidelines: we never allow monetisation of our IP without our direct permission and/or an agreement in place. We were in touch with Luke last week and informed him that he needs to make it free for everyone (with optional donations) or remove it.”

That, it would seem, isn’t a road Ross is prepared to go down. “As usual they stretch the concept of ‘derivative work’ until it’s paper-thin, as though a system that allows visualizing 40+ games in fully immersive 3D VR was somehow built making use of their intellectual property,” the modder wrote. “And as usual they give absolutely zero f***s about how playing their game in VR made people happy, and they cannot just be grateful about the extra copies of the title they sold because of that – without ever having to pour money into producing an official conversion (no, they’re not planning to release their own VR port, in case you were wondering).”

This isn’t the first time Luke Ross, a pseudonym according to a 2022 report from The Verge which claimed the modder was making £20,000 per month from their VR modding efforts, has had a publisher issue them with a strike. As you might have gathered from their earlier mention of Take-Two, R.E.A.L. VR’s GTA 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Mafia trilogy support had a copyright-focused takedown filed against them back in 2022.

As for next steps, Ross used the end of that post to announce that they’d be putting out a VR mod for Baldur’s Gate 3 ahead of schedule, “without going through the ordinary testing cycle”. On one hand, I understand at least some of the modder’s ire at being asked via lawyers to change up how they make their living, but on the other, if the option to go free but with optional donations for Cyberpunk is there, that seems a decent compromise for CD Projekt to have offered.