Any context? I first played Witcher in 2007 and it was so refreshing after the flood of shitty console-style RPGs in the mid 2000s (just my opinion), but I’ve never read the books. I’ve been meaning to read the Ukrainian translations, since I don’t think I will manage with the original Polish and I assuming the Ukrainian versions are closer to the original than the English translations.
I’ve met him either in 2000 or 2001 - shortly after final Witcher book has been published. By that time he’s become the biggest name in Polish fantasy literature with no close second. In terms of popularity he was bigger than Tolkien.
He didn’t handle that gracefully at all. I can confirm his reputation as an asshole was fully deserved.
Until they reply to you, I think some of it can be found in the article you posted, which I assume you read. So for the benefit of others who may not have, it seems that CDPR bought the rights to the Witcher books cheap and then the series ended up being worth a lot more, so he sued for more money. And since he created the series, I don’t think it’s that far out of the way to ask for more money since he created it and it’s bringing in so much.
But also, the game is very much its own thing now and he’s maybe feeling left out and maybe a bit salty about that. And who could really blame him? I’d guess he just wants to be more involved with the more accessible media telling the story of characters and a world he created. Barring anything too weird, I’m kinda with the writer here.
There’s also how closely CDPR has worked with Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the Cyberpunk tabletop RPG their popular video game (and anime, and various books) is based on. And they took that in their own way, too. Like Johnny Silverhand was originally based on David Bowie, but Pondsmith never considered using Johnny again after he was killed. The character was dead and considered apocryphal to the setting of the story. The whole Relic thing, bringing him back in the head of a dead mercenary was all CDPR, and of course since Bowie had passed, they had to get another person to base him off of. So while they kept him a rock star (Keanu Reeves is one as well, but nowhere near as major leagues as Bowie was), they had to make him a whole new character. And apparently Pondsmith has been nothing but supportive of Reeves’ Silverhand.
So there is something else going on with the Witcher guy, Sapkowski.
Also… what was CDPR before The Witcher? So it makes sense that they wouldn’t have paid much for the Witcher rights, since they were such a small/new studio.
CDPR offered him a percentage of all sales. He told them to get bent, because they won’t make anything worthwhile anyway and demanded a flat fee of IIRC 10k instead. When Witcher games became a huge success he sued for more.
what was CDPR before The Witcher
The largest game publisher in Poland that made it’s name by hiring top billing Polish actors to voice characters in e.g. polish release of Baldurs Gate.
Oof. Yeah, I saw on the Wiki that CDPR had a demo of Witcher 1 that people thought was trash, so it’s almost understandable he wanted a flat fee. $10k (or the Polish equivalent) seems absurdly low.
Witcher 1 was never really considered to be a great game anyway. Witcher 2 got a lot of buzz around it, and 3 even more so.
I’m not a fan of how Witcher 2 does a few things, but I will go to bat for that intro cinematic every time. Pure gold. With the pirate ship. Love it.
But also, the game is very much its own thing now and he’s maybe feeling left out and maybe a bit salty about that. And who could really blame him? I’d guess he just wants to be more involved with the more accessible media telling the story of characters and a world he created. Barring anything too weird, I’m kinda with the writer here.
I doubt that. Sapkowski has been pretty public about his disdain for games and has said games are a poor medium for telling stories. He also considers what CDPR has done with the Witcher as fanfic and not in any way canon. The last thing he wants is to be more involved with what CDPR is doing.
A small studio was able to afford the rights because the rights were underpriced, not because the price was set so that a small studio could afford them. When selling exclusive adaptation rights, there’s a single price for one IP, not a different price for each potential buyer. You sell to whoever is willing to pay the most. If you give someone smaller a discount, you can’t later sell things on to a bigger buyer for more money, but the party you sold to could.
Also, it’s not clear-cut that the rights were massively underpriced as no one else was trying to buy them. CDPR were willing to pay more if that had been the asking price, but they were the only ones biting anyway. The one thing in favour of the price being too low is that the author thought that video games were a fad that was about to pass, so there was no need to ask for royalties or withhold the rights to make sequels as the game was never going to make money anyway.
CDPR offered him a percentage of all sales. He told them to get bent, because they won’t make anything worthwhile anyway and demanded a flat fee of IIRC 10k instead. When Witcher games became a huge success he sued for more.
Any context? I first played Witcher in 2007 and it was so refreshing after the flood of shitty console-style RPGs in the mid 2000s (just my opinion), but I’ve never read the books. I’ve been meaning to read the Ukrainian translations, since I don’t think I will manage with the original Polish and I assuming the Ukrainian versions are closer to the original than the English translations.
I’ve met him either in 2000 or 2001 - shortly after final Witcher book has been published. By that time he’s become the biggest name in Polish fantasy literature with no close second. In terms of popularity he was bigger than Tolkien.
He didn’t handle that gracefully at all. I can confirm his reputation as an asshole was fully deserved.
I see. We’ll that’s too bad.
Until they reply to you, I think some of it can be found in the article you posted, which I assume you read. So for the benefit of others who may not have, it seems that CDPR bought the rights to the Witcher books cheap and then the series ended up being worth a lot more, so he sued for more money. And since he created the series, I don’t think it’s that far out of the way to ask for more money since he created it and it’s bringing in so much.
But also, the game is very much its own thing now and he’s maybe feeling left out and maybe a bit salty about that. And who could really blame him? I’d guess he just wants to be more involved with the more accessible media telling the story of characters and a world he created. Barring anything too weird, I’m kinda with the writer here.
There’s also how closely CDPR has worked with Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the Cyberpunk tabletop RPG their popular video game (and anime, and various books) is based on. And they took that in their own way, too. Like Johnny Silverhand was originally based on David Bowie, but Pondsmith never considered using Johnny again after he was killed. The character was dead and considered apocryphal to the setting of the story. The whole Relic thing, bringing him back in the head of a dead mercenary was all CDPR, and of course since Bowie had passed, they had to get another person to base him off of. So while they kept him a rock star (Keanu Reeves is one as well, but nowhere near as major leagues as Bowie was), they had to make him a whole new character. And apparently Pondsmith has been nothing but supportive of Reeves’ Silverhand.
So there is something else going on with the Witcher guy, Sapkowski.
Also… what was CDPR before The Witcher? So it makes sense that they wouldn’t have paid much for the Witcher rights, since they were such a small/new studio.
CDPR offered him a percentage of all sales. He told them to get bent, because they won’t make anything worthwhile anyway and demanded a flat fee of IIRC 10k instead. When Witcher games became a huge success he sued for more.
The largest game publisher in Poland that made it’s name by hiring top billing Polish actors to voice characters in e.g. polish release of Baldurs Gate.
Oof. Yeah, I saw on the Wiki that CDPR had a demo of Witcher 1 that people thought was trash, so it’s almost understandable he wanted a flat fee. $10k (or the Polish equivalent) seems absurdly low.
Witcher 1 was never really considered to be a great game anyway. Witcher 2 got a lot of buzz around it, and 3 even more so.
I’m not a fan of how Witcher 2 does a few things, but I will go to bat for that intro cinematic every time. Pure gold. With the pirate ship. Love it.
Those negotiations were well before the demo - before any work on the game has started
I doubt that. Sapkowski has been pretty public about his disdain for games and has said games are a poor medium for telling stories. He also considers what CDPR has done with the Witcher as fanfic and not in any way canon. The last thing he wants is to be more involved with what CDPR is doing.
A small studio was able to afford the rights because the rights were underpriced, not because the price was set so that a small studio could afford them. When selling exclusive adaptation rights, there’s a single price for one IP, not a different price for each potential buyer. You sell to whoever is willing to pay the most. If you give someone smaller a discount, you can’t later sell things on to a bigger buyer for more money, but the party you sold to could.
Also, it’s not clear-cut that the rights were massively underpriced as no one else was trying to buy them. CDPR were willing to pay more if that had been the asking price, but they were the only ones biting anyway. The one thing in favour of the price being too low is that the author thought that video games were a fad that was about to pass, so there was no need to ask for royalties or withhold the rights to make sequels as the game was never going to make money anyway.
CDPR offered him a percentage of all sales. He told them to get bent, because they won’t make anything worthwhile anyway and demanded a flat fee of IIRC 10k instead. When Witcher games became a huge success he sued for more.