Stolen source code from Cyberpunk 2077 is said to have been sold at auction
Scene from Cyberpunk 2077. (Image: CD Projekt Red)
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The source code of the Cyberpunk 2077 game engine was apparently sold at an illegal auction. The criminal hackers had asked for several million. How much was actually paid in the end remains unclear.
As part of a ransomware attack on the CD Projekt Red game studio, criminals are said to have also got hold of the source code of the in-house game engine and several games. The source code has now been offered for sale in a hacker forum. The auction was later closed with the notice that a buyer had been found. This is based on information from the Israeli company Kela, which specializes in monitoring darknet activities.
According to Kela, the starting bid for the source code was $ 1 million. In addition, the $ 7 million price was announced for immediate purchase. Compared to the US publication The Verge Kela employees explain that they believe the auction is real. However, it remains unclear who bought the source code and how much money went in the end. From a Screenshot posted by Kela on Twitter it can be deduced that as part of the deal, the buyers agreed that the source code would no longer be distributed by the hackers.
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Who would benefit from buying the Cyberpunk 2077 game engine?
While the modder scene would probably lick its fingers for the source code of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, it is unlikely to invest millions in stolen software. Even the competition could hardly use the illegally acquired source code in their own games without the developers involved noticing. Since the hackers are said to have agreed not to further distribute the source code, many observers on Twitter suspect that CD Projekt Red itself could be the buyer.
However, after the attack became known, the game studio publicly announced that it would not respond to the hackers’ demands or negotiate with them. Because that would only incite criminals to carry out further attacks of this kind.
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