Maker of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, CD Project Red, hit Twitter users with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) removals to share links to Gwent source code, by a recent report from Under.
Several Twitter users reported that their tweets, at least some of which were linked to the source code that was probably leaked to the CD Project Red data cap earlier this month, were removed following copyright copyright by the Polish gaming company. “Description of offense: Illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. Posted without authorization, not intended to be released to the public, ”reads one of the DMCA removal notices, a copy of which was obtained and reviewed by Under.
The source code for Gwent is just one part of a seemingly much larger data breach. On February 9 CD Project Red announced that hackers stole data, ranging from source code to Cyberpunk 2077 to financial documents and personal employee information, and keep it as a ransom. Some of the data refused to pay was apparently sold at auction. About the same time, the source code for Gwent specific appears to start making the rounds online.
CD Project Red did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the issuance of DMCA removals to stop the dissemination of the hacked information or in general about where the investigation into the cause of the violation and who is behind it.
G / O Media can get a commission
The removal of DMCA has long been a legitimate tool for companies that want to control their intellectual property and how it is used. Nintendo is notorious for using them to block fan games and remove audio tracks from YouTube. But it is also increasingly common on other platforms. Just this weekend, viewers streaming BlizzCon Online on Twitch were blocked by DMCA notices to hear a live Metallica concert meant to be part of the event.
Video game companies also sometimes used them to stop people tweet snapshots or videos of their games. Just before Cyberpunk 2077’s release, CD Project Red used a DMCA notification to stop someone to share a picture of the Tā Moko tattoos of the game as part of a critique of how it was used in the game.