CD Projekt co-founder and joint CEO Marcin Iwiński tells IGN that the developer is releasing 16 free The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

“Because people just paid full price for our game,” Iwiński responded when we asked why the developer is releasing its next 16 DLC packs for free. “We owe them.”

“Yeah, we are making a statement,” he added. “We, as gamers, would like to be treated this way, 'Hey, give me free DLC.' It doesn't have to be something huge. And I'm saying we aren't giving out huge stuff, we aren't giving tens of hours of storyline here, we are giving small bits of pieces that don't cost a lot. And I think people would feel better about our game, and, so, they will enjoy the adventure even more.

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“And maybe the ones who thought about pirating would not pirate it,” Iwiński added. “Maybe the ones who wanted to trade it back and get something else will keep it on the shelf. That'd be great, I would like this to happen and if not that's fine as well. I hope they'll have fun.”

Iwiński added that despite past suggestions from potential publishers to go to multiplayer with The Witcher titles, it stands by its continued dedication to single-player with Geralt as the main protagonist.

“Initially, when we were talking to different publishing partners, they were coming over to our studio with focus tests saying, 'Hey! RPG is the trend now. There has to be multiplayer, and multi-character selection, and there has to be a female character.'” said Iwińsk. “And we said, 'No, no, it's about Geralt. We have the books, we have the lore. It's true, it works, it's consistent.'

"So we're not talking to these guys anymore,” he added. “But we've always had a strong vision of what we want to achieve and even having that, it's not easy. And overcomplicating it and adding something on the side, just because it looks better on the box, or maybe it works better in the press or promotion, [multiplayer] was never our style. And its truly a single-player game. And I think that's what people appreciate, nothing artificially stuck on the side just to make it look better. It's the story of Geralt, the professional monster hunter, and that's it."

CD Projekt Red revealed in November that The Witcher 3 will be receiving 16 DLC packages, free of charge across all platforms without pre-order or special edition purchase requirements.

Iwiński stated at the time that the developer believes consumers shouldn't have to spend "steep" amounts for “lots of tiny pieces of tempting content” post-launch. "Haven’t we just paid a lot of cash for a brand new game? As CD Projekt Red, we strongly believe this is not the way it should work and, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we have decided to do it differently,” said Iwiński.

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Launching May19 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, players will be able to download the first two pieces of DLC on May 20: the horse armour 'Temerian Armour Set' and a 'Beard and Hairstyle Set' for Geralt. A DLC bundle containing two components will be released every week for free after this date. CD Projekt Red says instructions on how to obtain DLCs on specific platforms will be provided at a later date.

"DLC, it’s small content," said head of marketing and PR Michal Platkow-Gilewski last September. "Like one-thousandth of the whole game. Why should you charge for that? If it’s small, give it for free. I know it’s not always possible or easy but this is what we want to give gamers; a little bit of love, which we’d like to get from other developers as gamers ourselves."

If you're hungry like the wolf, don't miss IGN First where we take a look at why The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be worth the wait.

Jenna Pitcher is a freelance journalist writing for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter