The ONLY reason this is what happened, is because CDPR LET the CE buyers play the game early. Had they not done this maneuver, pirates wouldn't have been able to play before launch.

Someone bought the CE version, and someone applied it to the retail versions already leaked but unable to play.

Publishers are often the ones demanding DRM. Most of the time the developer isn't to concerned about it.

So, why aren't you reporting your friends to GOG? Try to get their account shut down.

That aside, are you implying that none of these people would just borrow a friend's game CDs and install it that way? You know, considering the DRM is now removed.

Or none of these people would turn to pirate sites to get the game if they wanted it that bad?

Are you insisting that your handful of cases that you personally know are a representative sample that indicates CDPR is going to lose thousands of sales?

Are you implying that there are literally thousands of people out there that would turn to a legitimate retail purchase if they couldn't get the game through a buddy's GOG account?

If so, congratulations, it would appear you've decided to drink the DRM vendor's kool-aid.

Also there are thousands of configurations. Any developer can only possibly know of maybe around a 100. So on those 100 or less different systems they tested there was only a minor performance difference

But on all the 1000+ different combination of computer parts, it didn't work. It makes sense to me. They knew of the performance difference but they had a deadline to meet, and didn't think there was a huge difference.

Well now there's no drm at all, so everyone wins.

Publishers are going to demand drm, because that's what big publishers do. They don't understand the only DRM that works is the one preventing day 0 piracy.

Ditto here - though my reason is to ensure that I can game without online distractions...
Agreed - it's surprising (and a little depressing) how many seem to miss this point - whether it is with games, music (several using DRM have shut down) or ebooks. Gaming in particular sees a high turnover with many top-flight studios (Looking Glass, Troika, Ion Storm) and even publishers (Interplay, Sierra, SSI) either closing down or being taken over.

I have games more than 10 years old which I can still play thanks to having kept copies of downloaded updates.
Add to that stores like (Shrapnel Games - mainly offering wargames) and [url=http://www.showmethegames.com/]ShowMeTheGames. Some mainstream publishers have released DRM-free retail content (e.g. Paradox Interactive with Europa Universalis or 1C with King's Bounty Armored Princess) so it is there for those who go looking.
Such GOG account sharing is easily detectable (and stoppable) simply by keeping track of the IP addresses requesting downloads, and it would be naive to think that there wasn't already a system in place to block excessive usage.

One person downloading and then passing stuff around on a memory stick (or uploading it elsewhere) on the other hand, wouldn't be detectable unless GOG fingerprinted the downloads.

Thanks for the info on the DRM-free game publishers/developers/stores. I've added them to my database of indie/DRM-free gaming sources and will tell my friends/colleagues. Its love when people can get together to share info on the ideal way to do make/distribute something cool.

I think some see it a bit black and white here, publishers the oppressers, developers the oppressed. When a game fails the one of those really losing there is mostly the developer, resulting in layoffs or even the closure of the studio. That alone makes developers more concerned about how many units they sell of their games.

If a person thinks that pirated products hurt sales or not seems to be a question of believe.

You know how my friends, and I used to be guilty of this as well, determine if they buy a game or not? If the game is cracked on or before the day of release they'll pirate it and never buy the game, if there is no crack on day of release they buy the game.

So piracy does in fact hurt sales, though we don't know how much that is.