Sapkowski is suing CDProjekt Red over The Witcher rights

VR StarLightPL

VR StarLightPL
https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/9ko3om/cdprojekt_has_received_a_demand_for_payment_from/

May I add, that he uses every ocassion to badmouth the game and gamers (his famous quote saying "I don't know many people who have played it, my friends are rather intelligent") and a lot of other poo thrown the game's way. (compare: https://www.pcgamesn.com/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/the-witcher-games-andrzej-sapkowski-profits ).

TL; DR: he flat out refused a % cut offer back then, and after years of badmouthing wants a ride on the gravy train. Hypocrite.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
As much as I love The Witcher (books AND games) I genuinely dislike Sapkowski. I've seen him twice and he's... to adhere to forum rules... not a nice person.
Like, most of the time, you can say at least something nice about anybody, no matter how bad they're objectively are. But the only nice thing that can be said about Sapkowski is that he wrote the books. He's that kind of old man, who will bully you on public transport because you look like if you were sitting, you wouldn't free the seat for him.

I really hope he loses the lawsuit.
 

Surefoot

S
Yeah looks like he wants his cake and eat it too. On one side he dismisses gaming and gamers and on the other he wants more money because the games were hugely successful.
 

Jacques d'Orleans

Banned
Jacques d'Orleans
I've never heard of the guy before the games. I think the games made him popular outside the fantasy-book fandom to begin with. It seems he is alright in smal doses, obviously.

Edit: I might add, that there wasn't even one single english translation of his books available before the first Witcher game in 2007. The first official english edition was in 2009.
 
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Speedcuffs

Speedcuffs
Jacques d'Orleans said:
I've never heard of the guy before the games. I think the games made him popular outside the fantasy-book fandom to begin with. It seems he is alright in smal doses, obviously.

Edit: I might add, that there wasn't even one single english translation of his books available before the first Witcher game in 2007. The first official english edition was in 2009.
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Interesting, I did wonder about the timelines on the translations.
So his income from the books has probably increased on the back of the games success...
 

Prorokpl

Prorokpl
Man, I love Sapkowski's work, but only that. I never liked the guy moreover, I know why a community like fantasy conventions haven't invited him for a couple of years. He's a , with a huge ego (not mention his drinking problems) and he always was never interested in The Witcher. Couple of times he said he wrote it for money and first "The Witcher" story was for cash reward only. Like is mentioned in article CDProject Red offered him % cut but he refused. He sold a lot of his rights to Witcher series long time ago. Now couse it's a success he wants more money. That's too bad for him but I think it's fair - he agreed to that.
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
Sounds like an attempt to go for a quick settlement anticipating the studio is very busy with ironing out CP 2077 and hoping they want to get it out of their feet.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Navigare Necesse Est said:
Sounds like an attempt to go for a quick settlement anticipating the studio is very busy with ironing out CP 2077 and hoping they want to get it out of their feet.
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It's really sad. When you compare Sapkowski to the author of Cyberpunk, who is ecstatic about how well CDP portrayed his world and is actively helping them,...
Sapkowski could have become a gamers' deity, considering how good the games went, but he just had to be bitter and obstructive every bit of the way.
 

Shadowdancer

Shadowdancer
Navigare Necesse Est said:
Sounds like an attempt to go for a quick settlement anticipating the studio is very busy with ironing out CP 2077 and hoping they want to get it out of their feet.
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CDPR have two games in the Witcher franchise slated for release in late October, so I'd assume they keep their lawyers busy.

All in all I'm kinda amazed that hasn't happened a long time ago.
 

Knightshark

Knightshark
I think CDPR has better writers than he is. I found the books mediocre at best. He is arrogant and his writing shows that, his novels definitively don't qualify as literature, they are fantasy fast food. His Witcher short stories are better. Nobody would give a damn about him without CDPR. It's ridiculous that he claims that people play the game because of him. He denied the % because he has such a low opinion of gamers and CDPR. Karma strikes again.
 
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Caramel Clown

Caramel Clown
He is truly an unpleasant geezer :)
While he was quite well known and popular in Eastern and Central Europe long before games, CDPR brought him worldwide fame and success. However, seems like he feels it's not enough. First he badmouths gamers and industry, now he wants a pile of money. Hope he doesn't get a dime more than what was paid to him for rights to use the IP in the original contract.
 

Mole HD

Mole HD
CDPR should just buy the miserable old shyte a new Ford Fiesta and a lifetime pass to Amazon Kindle and tell him to sling his hook...
 

Jacques d'Orleans

Banned
Jacques d'Orleans
Henkka77 said:
Slam and dunk case for CD Projekt.

Sapkowski has only himself to blame.
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I don't see much of a case here either, after some google fu about the Polish law it seems that there is a law to protect people from being ripped of by 3rd parties (simplified version of it) and his lawyer obviously thinks he can take that approach.
OTOH, he admitted in interviews that he demanded a up-front payment because he didn't think that the games would have been a success, so I fail to see the "being ripped off" part here completely.
OFC, as we don't know the whole story right now, it could have been the case that he tried to re-negotiate the contract and failed and then decided to go to court.
If the case has any merit is still to be seen, IMHO it looks more like a nonsuit. They still can settle outside of the court tho.
 

Zak Gordon

Zak Gordon
“I was stupid enough to sell them rights to the whole bunch,” he says. “They offered me a percentage of their profits. I said, ‘No, there will be no profit at all – give me all my money right now! The whole amount.’ It was stupid. I was stupid enough to leave everything in their hands because I didn’t believe in their success. But who could foresee their success? I couldn’t.”
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Was from the dude himself, and if in the USA/Uk CDProjekt could just offer him the middle-finger and be done.

However in Polish law there seems to be a provision that protects a 'creator' of a work from their own short-sightedness, and it appears CDProjekt do acknowledge this, but say he is flat out asking for too much money (around 12 million it seems) and are willing to negotiate that.
 

JonnyC0mbat

JonnyC0mbat
He probably should have gone with the Alex Guinness method:

I don’t like the project, but it’ll probably be popular so I’ll go with option B and take a percentage. Made him and his family a fortune when Star Wars blew up.

No sympathy for the guy. Being an author doesn’t protect you from making terrible business decisions.
 
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