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Andrzej Sapkowski sold the rights to Metropolis's Witcher for $4000
- Thread starter boskee
- Start date
Are you referring to this?
Sapkowski said:
Because this is both factually incorrect and generally delusional.
Jay Shadow
Member
" I made the games popular. All of my translations in the West including the English one were published before the first game" Well, that's just a blatant lie.
But he sold the rights...And he didn't believe in his own creation enough to get the royalties.
Could they have given him pity money? Sure. But they also have hundreds of other employees to feed.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
That's why he doesn't hate that the game's are successful. The books must be selling better than before.
Mr. Phellps
Member
Sapkowski said:
Oh, i didn't know this, the first book wasn't translated in my language (italian) until 2010
He didn't believe the game was gonna be successful, asking for a payment upfront with Metropolis was the right decision given how the game never came out, he probably thought the same thing about CD Projekt Red "these suckers never making the game better take something from them before they disappear forever".
Hindsight is 20/20 i know but still, I don't know why people act like the game being successful was a given, Poland doesn't strike me as some entrepreneurship paradise today less alone in the 90s when they just were coming out of Communism.
veloxStrix
Banned
Since CDPR owns "The Witcher" does that mean the new Netflix series is coming from their camp and not Sapkowski?
Triggerhappytel
Member
Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is total horseshit. The books weren't even widely available outside of Poland/Eastern Europe before the games came out. Now I see them whenever I go to Waterstones and look in the sci-fi/fantasy section.
No it means it won't have the Witcher name
From the interview he gave a while back, it sounded like he fully recognizes that he fucked up. He was salty, but more at his self than at CDPR. Businesses aren't obligated be charitable towards the people they do business with, so they're not the ones at fault here.
Triggerhappytel
Member
The Netflix series has nothing to do with the games or CDPR.
Kiru
Member
Mr. Phellps
Member
Or CDPR could lend the trademark to Netflix. A TV show could further promote the game, specially if it's really good, so this would benefit them.
bonesmccoy
Banned
Betcha they'll work something out. I can't see CDPR, savvy folks they seem to be, not wanting to capitalize on the exposure a major Netflix series would give their games.
Turin Turambar
Member
People always forget he actually made a good amount of money thanks to the Cd Projekt Witcher games, even without royalties from them.
How? Easy: We can imagine the amount of The Witcher novels sold globally has increased 7-8x fold thanks to the video games. And I suppose he gains some from royalties from the novels, which are written by him.
I don't know why he would say that. The Last Wish wasn't translated into English officially until the year the first Witcher game came out. The final book in the main series wasn't even released in English until March of this year. The books were hardly known my anyone in the U.S. prior to the games. I can't imagine that the games haven't helped the sales of the books.
Thanks Sapkowski, I owe you big time!
Yeah that didn't happen for Finnish translations either. The first translation was 2010, but to be fair it was awarded with a fantasy literature award just like the second one. So the books were critically acclaimed atleast.
Yeah that didn't happen for Finnish translations either. The first translation was 2010, but to be fair it was awarded with a fantasy literature award just like the second one. So the books were critically acclaimed atleast.
Exactly. The Games he disliked so much drove interest in his books sky high globally. That global interest is what led Netflix to say hey this series is really popular lets turn it into a series.
spindoctor
Member
Can someone please translate this? The machine translation is bogus.
BRocknRolla
Member
There was a recent interview with him in which he was convinced that everyone knows the series because of how popular his books are. (I enjoy the books, but I doubt I'd have heard of them if not for the game.)
The guy clearly had no faith in the popularity of the game, and still doesn't give it any respect. Probably though he was making a good deal at the time.
The guy clearly had no faith in the popularity of the game, and still doesn't give it any respect. Probably though he was making a good deal at the time.
FinaruDensetsu
Member
I hope he's being smarter this time with his deal with Netflix.
StrategyFan
Member
having read some of the books, the witcher's success is 99.9% related to the game's developer and 0.1% related to the quality of the source material
The Horror the horror
Banned
So any one of us could have gotten the rights from him for 4,000 then licensed it for more?
*signs up to attend the next sci-fi & fantasy book fair*
*signs up to attend the next sci-fi & fantasy book fair*
ShockingAlberto
Member
I guarantee that you would not return money if the other person feels bad.
brickarts295
Member
Reminds of the poor bastard who created Victoria Secrets and sold it for a million. Less than 10 years later, the company ends up being worth more than a billion.
Well at least this guy has his books. Hopefully the sales are enough for him to get by and forget about his mistakes.
Well at least this guy has his books. Hopefully the sales are enough for him to get by and forget about his mistakes.
Moff
Member
how did he get hustled? no one could have known what a success the games would turn out to be. I don't even know if they were a huge success up until the third game.
they even offered him different deals, one including royalties, as you said yourself. I really don't see how he would have been "hustled big time" or that he had anyone to blame but himself. and honestly not even that probably, at the time it was probably the obvious decision.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Man had no vision or confidence in gaming. The classic case of risk vs reward.
$4000 is HILARIOUS though!
$4000 is HILARIOUS though!
Take note this was 1997 in Poland. 15000 PLN was more than a yearly salary at that time. For a medium like video games, which were mostly pirated back in those days, this was a pretty good amount of money and I can imagine it really made sense for Sapkowski to sell it for a one time fee, instead of getting royalties.
And this amount is for a license to use "The Witcher" in a game which never saw the light of day. We don't know how much CDPR paid for the license to produce The Witcher later on. Seeing how salty Sapkowski is, I doubt it was a lot more.
And this amount is for a license to use "The Witcher" in a game which never saw the light of day. We don't know how much CDPR paid for the license to produce The Witcher later on. Seeing how salty Sapkowski is, I doubt it was a lot more.
Sure, but that doesn't mean he's entailed to any more money.
B-B-Bomba!
Member
But if someone hadn't been able to buy it for so little, it might never have become what it did.
$4k was what he got from the first company to attempt making a game. I don't think we know how much CDPR gave him.
But it's much more fun to laugh and make fun of him for selling it for what seems like peanuts today.
PowerThroughLov
Member
CDPR gave him $0. They acquired the license via acquisition of the original licensing company.
blueteainfusion
Member
Then how would you explain the huge popularity of the books in Germany and Central/Eastern Europe way before the games?
The books are legimately awesome, the writing style is very distinctive and unique, the way he plays with language is something else. Of course you wouldn't know this if you read only English translation.
I personally think he got burned hard by the TV show. Back then he made a wrong business decision, but you would know it only in hindsight. Honestly, being offered only one of the two instead of sum + small royalties should be the standard. Not everyone likes to gamble.
Why though? He's being a dick about it. He asked for money because he thought the games would tank. He was given money. His books became famous worldwide and have been translated into many languages. He'd be nowhere near as successful without CDPR. The regret is down to his own bad decisions and not being able to take it like a mature adult.
As mentioned already, he rejected the initial offer and years ago I recall a longform article detailing this negotiation wherein his own legal/financial counsel was pushing HARD for him to accept the original CDPR offer, yet he literally joked and spat on the deal anyway. He was very anti-gaming and had zero faith in its success or desire to be part of it. Something to that effect but its been awhile since I read about it so I may need slight correction.
SargerusBR
I love Pokken!
No wonder he's always pissed when the games are mentioned.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Be ready for Netlfix's The Hexer guys
Come on Andrzej, I love your work, but stop being salty and work with CDP to make the TV series as best as possible. If not for the fans, do it for all the money you can win for making a better job.
The english translations are fucking crap though.
Spain got the also the books (not all though) before the games appeared. Fantasy novels are really popular here. They actually had 2 covers (a really old one only with wolf medallion, and a better one done a little bit later with the characters) and after the games realeased they tried to make a paperback version with the witcher 2 art. It sold like shit while the other vesion sold better so the paperback version dissapeared and the characters one was maintained until the last book release.
I think something similar (books appaearing before the first game) also happened in France.
Come on Andrzej, I love your work, but stop being salty and work with CDP to make the TV series as best as possible. If not for the fans, do it for all the money you can win for making a better job.
The english translations are fucking crap though.
Spain got the also the books (not all though) before the games appeared. Fantasy novels are really popular here. They actually had 2 covers (a really old one only with wolf medallion, and a better one done a little bit later with the characters) and after the games realeased they tried to make a paperback version with the witcher 2 art. It sold like shit while the other vesion sold better so the paperback version dissapeared and the characters one was maintained until the last book release.
I think something similar (books appaearing before the first game) also happened in France.
The people who you do business with aren't your friends. They aren't obligated to give him a good deal. He should have thought about the long term before signing anything.
GuitarAtomik
Member
Hex is a word in English. I think "hexer" is too though I've never heard or seen it used. It probably wouldn't sound like the Polish pronunciation though.
The truth. If anything it's his fault for dismissing videogames as a serious medium, even with just a bit of research we would have found that videogames often succeed in adapting IPs originating in other mediums.