The drama around the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod has officially spiraled into chaos, with creator Luke Ross now claiming he’s being targeted by the very community that once supported him. After CD Projekt RED forced the mod off Patreon, Ross says some mod fans have started pirating it in protest. In his words, he’s no longer just dealing with CDPR – he’s dealing with a “punishment campaign” fueled by piracy.

The controversy surrounding the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod keeps escalating. A few days ago, CD Projekt RED issued a cease-and-desist request to developer Luke Ross over his VR mod for the sci-fi RPG. The issue, however, wasn’t simply that the mod existed, but that Ross kept it behind a paywall and refused to distribute it for free to everyone. Now the story has reignited once again, because the backlash has pushed many Cyberpunk 2077 fans to pirate the mod as a form of “punishment.”

The VR mod is gone from Patreon – but players are now spreading it online

Ross explained the situation while responding to IGN questions about his clash with CD Projekt RED. According to him, the cease-and-desist was sent directly to Patreon (the platform he used for payments and distribution), and the system automatically removed the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod in response. “I had absolutely no say in the matter, because in situations like these (at least on Patreon), the team had already complied with the request and removed the mod on their own initiative, making it inaccessible,” Ross said.

The conflict has escalated to the point where Ross claims he’s been in touch with CD Projekt RED in order to “negotiate a mutually beneficial solution.” However, Ross says the studio’s stance has been blunt: they will not allow the VR mod to exist as paid content. “No negotiations, no comments on my proposals, no interest – not even in knowing how many of their users would be impacted by the sudden removal,” Ross stated.

“I haven’t ruled out releasing the mod for free to everyone,” he admitted. “But it would take time, because my software framework supports over 40 games across multiple, very different engines, and building a version specifically adapted to Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t trivial.” He also pointed out that people who voluntarily paid to support the framework’s development might not be thrilled to see the mod suddenly given away to everyone simply because he was forced into it.

At this point, Ross argues, it barely matters whether the VR mod is paid or free. He claims the community has turned his decision not to freely distribute it into a moral battleground. “After the unexpected copyright strike, after the mod was forcibly removed from my Patreon, people – fearing VR support would disappear from their favorite games – started pirating and illegally trading it online, openly insisting that because it didn’t comply with CD Projekt’s Terms of Service, my work is now ‘legitimate’ and should be punished as theft, so in a sense CDPR got what it wanted,” Ross explained.

Despite the failed negotiations and his resistance to immediately giving the mod away, Ross says he remains open to finding a solution with the Polish studio. “I don’t modify game content, and I’m not trying to sell an experience that competes with what the IP creators produce: you always need the original game to play in VR, and the only change is that the experience becomes more immersive, visceral, and memorable, which ultimately benefits the IP owners.”

Source: 3djuegos