The creator of the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod CD Projekt just lately hit with a DMCA strike has stated individuals at the moment are pirating it to “punish” him for breaking the developer’s phrases of service.
Luke Ross, creator of the R.E.A.L. VR mods for video games similar to Elden Ring, Days Gone, and Far Cry, reportedly earns $20,000 a month by way of Patreon, which acts as a paywall for his work.
Ross prolonged his VR conversion framework to assist Cyberpunk 2077 in February 2022. Just a few months later, he contacted CD Projekt to ask if the Polish studio was keen on turning the mod into an official port. It declined, Ross instructed IGN.
Then, on January 9, 2026, Patreon alerted Ross to CD Projekt’s DMCA discover for the removing of the mod, which it had already taken down. “I had completely no say within the matter, as a result of as is the norm in these circumstances (at the very least for Patreon), the Patreon group had already complied with the request and brought down my mod of their very own initiative, making it inaccessible,” Ross stated.
Ross then obtained in contact with CD Projekt to, as he put it, “negotiate a mutually useful answer.” CD Projekt then replied to say Ross wanted to adjust to its phrases of service. “No negotiation, no feedback on my proposals, no curiosity as an illustration in figuring out what number of of their customers could be affected by the sudden removing.”
The state of affairs hit the headlines this week when Jan Rosner, VP, Enterprise Growth at CD Projekt Pink, tweeted to say the corporate issued the DMCA strike as a result of Cyberpunk VR was a paid mod, which violates its fan content material tips.
“We by no means permit monetization of our IP with out our direct permission and/or an settlement in place,” Rosner stated. “We had been in contact with Luke final week and knowledgeable him that he must make it free for everybody (with non-obligatory donations) or take away it.
“We’re large followers of mods to our video games — a number of the work out there was nothing in need of superb, together with Luke’s mod for Cyberpunk 2077. We’d be blissful to see it return as a free launch. Nevertheless, making a revenue from our IP, in any kind, at all times requires permission from CD Projekt Pink.”
Ross responded to Rosner’s tweet to take challenge along with his work being characterised as fan content material. Slightly, Ross insisted, it’s impartial software program and thus doesn’t infringe on CD Projekt’s IP rights.
“I am sorry however I do not consider you might be inside your rights in demanding that my software program must be free,” Ross stated. “It isn’t ‘by-product work’ or ‘fan content material’: it helps a lot of video games which had been constructed upon totally different engines, and it comprises completely zero code or belongings out of your IP. Saying that it infringes your IP rights is equal to sustaining for instance that RivaTuner violates sport publishers’ copyrights as a result of it intercepts the pictures the sport is drawing on display screen and it processes them in an effort to overlay its statistics.”
IGN adopted as much as ask Ross if he has plans to make the Cyberpunk VR mod free, thus complying with CD Projekt’s phrases of service. Responding, Ross stated that whereas he wouldn’t rule out doing so, it might be loads of work.
“I don’t rule out releasing the mod free for everybody,” he stated. “However it might take time, as a result of my software program helps 40+ video games and numerous utterly totally different engines, which makes making a model that particularly helps solely Cyberpunk 2077 a non-trivial process. Additionally, the individuals who have voluntarily given their cash to me in an effort to assist my growth efforts for the framework may not be blissful about seeing the mod being given away unexpectedly to everybody simply because I have been bullied into it.”
At this level, Ross stated that making the mod free had change into a moot level as a result of individuals had been now pirating it — and publishing abusive feedback directed at him.
“Anyway, it is form of change into a moot level, as a result of following to the sudden DMCA strike, after the mod was forcibly faraway from my Patreon, individuals afraid of shedding VR assist for his or her favourite video games have began pirating and illegally exchanging the mod everywhere in the Web, openly saying that since I used to be not complying with CDPR’s ToS, my work is now truthful sport and I must be punished by having it stolen. So in a way CDPR already obtained what they needed,” he stated.
The next is a snippet of the response to the DMCA strike and Ross’ feedback about it.
“Ehhh, with out the sport the mod is ineffective. I’m glad some individuals have discovered methods to pirate his shitty mods, he deserves it,” one individual stated on social media.
“I’m at the moment engaged on transferring this man’s mod recordsdata to my PC. I’ll look by way of and do some tweaking, after which I’ll launch his VR mod for Cyberpunk free of charge,” stated one other.
“What actually bugs me is that as a substitute of simply releasing it free of charge and persevering with growth with donations, which Take-Two already permits and which might nearly positively nonetheless usher in the identical cash from the VR group, he selected to kill the mod totally as soon as he couldn’t promote it anymore,” added one other. “That’s the half I don’t respect. He already made his cash, he had choices, and he nonetheless selected the nuclear one. Finish result’s gamers lose the one actual Cyberpunk VR expertise, VR modding takes one other hit, and publishers get painted as villains once more regardless that this consequence was form of apparent.”
The next is a remark posted on Ross’ Patreon web page:
“Upon studying extra about this case: they gave you a method to hold it alive, and also you determined to be a grasping little bish about it so I am cancelling my Patreon subscription to you and giving all of your mods to anybody I do know free of charge any further (additionally there’s locations on-line to search out all of your mods instantly after launch free of charge, I used to be selecting to pay you, however now you are being a dickhead so I am going to simply steal your mods any further and inform everybody the place to search out them).
“You’ve got made 20k a month for years, for modding these video games — they’re asking you to make ONE OF THEM free — for a sport which is essentially performed updating and could be model locked.
“Actually gross by CD Venture Pink, and by you — exhibits the place your priorities are you grasping little proud man.”
It appears unlikely that CD Projekt will again down right here, which leaves Ross with a choice to make: ditch the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod for good, or launch it free of charge, as CD Projekt requests.
Ross restated to IGN that he’s open to discovering “artistic options,” and that his work to make AAA video games playable in VR fills a void, however he has but to verify plans to launch the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod free of charge.
“I don’t modify the content material of the video games, or attempt to promote an expertise which is in competitors with what the IP creators are producing,” he continued. “To play in VR you at all times must personal the unique sport, and the one factor that adjustments is that the expertise is extra immersive, visceral and memorable, which may solely profit the IP house owners. In the long run, when players are taking part in for instance Cyberpunk in VR, they aren’t taking part in my mod. They’re taking part in Cyberpunk, and loving it. How this might ever harm the writer and set off free-or-kill reactions nonetheless baffles me.”
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].