According to the Polish game journalist, Marcin Kosman, who now works for CDP.pl, Andrzej Sapkowski sold the rights to The Witcher game (that was produced by Metropolis Software) for 15 000 Polish zloty, or $4000 in today's money. It was Adrian Chmielarz (head of Metropolis) who reportedly coined the name The Witcher (as opposed to Sapkowski's prefered name Hexer), and first approached the writer back in 1998. That game never saw the light of day. Ten years later his studio was aquired by CD Projekt.
CD Projekt has aquired a seperate license from Sapkowski few years later (and we don't know how much he asked for it), but given the amount Sapkowski was willing to sell the rights to Metropolis, it's no wonder that he is now salty about the incredibly popular games.
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Edit: Adrian Chmielarz has now denied that Metropolis paid Sapkowski $4000.
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CD Projekt has aquired a seperate license from Sapkowski few years later (and we don't know how much he asked for it), but given the amount Sapkowski was willing to sell the rights to Metropolis, it's no wonder that he is now salty about the incredibly popular games.
Source
Edit: Adrian Chmielarz has now denied that Metropolis paid Sapkowski $4000.
Source