CD Projekt Red & Sapkowski close to a deal, hint future collabs

Andrzej Sapkowski versus CD Projekt Red saga may be coming to a favourable end for both parties soon as the former will get some compensation, although not as much as he asked for. Further cooperation was remotely hinted by the developer.

[watchem]

Nice to hear!

[cleft5]

This is good, say what you will this dude work did make CDPR Billionaires. Yes, I know it was the excellent game they made that allowed them to succeed, but you can not deny the appeal that having the Witcher world helped them to be successful. So I am glad they are coming to a deal.

[rdgneoz3]

They tried to cut a % when they first made a deal with him. He thought games were stupid and wanted a 1 time cash payment. He did not expect the series to do so well on PC/consoles, and then tried to bitch about his own stupidity. They tried to do right by him, but he screwed himself over in the beginning.

"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."

[Lord_Sloth]

He's also a greedy ass-hat who demanded they give him a 1 time cash settlement because he didn't give a damn about video games and was sure they would fail in a year or 2 anyways. They wanted to give him a better deal but his own close minded nature and greed lead to him losing out on a lot of money in the end and he was very openly bitter about it.

THEY did the work, he provided the lore, and it's not like his book sales haven't exploded since the games came out.

[Edito]

They should send him a big f*ck off... now that the series is super popular he want's a cut tsc...

[rdgneoz3]

They offered him a percentage, he thought the games wouldn't succeed so he wanted cash instead. Idiot...

[starchild]

Well, I think Sapkowski has been unreasonable during all of this, but I'm glad that they are reaching an agreement if it means we will get more Witcher games in the future.

[King_Noctis]

Awesome to hear. A good resolution that benefit both parties only lead to good things for gamers. Can’t wait to see what will come of this.

[TheOpenWorlder]

Polish law says he can do this. You people being rude against this guy are just advocating a system opposite to the one you cannot understand. He's completely OK to do this, and I'm glad he's getting more money. In fact what's more insulting is they didn't say - hey we made millions off your idea, and even though you lumpsummed it because you were desperate, here's a couple of that million. It's equivalent to someone buying an idea for $10 and making billions off of it.

You all here are so quick to judge, but I bet you all would do the same damn thing if you could and it was your work that was being profited off of for millions. Bunch of hypocrites here. lol

[northpaws]

If you agreed to sell an idea as an one off price of $10, then that's it. What is the point of a contract any more if you can change it when it benefits you?

[porkChop]

"You all here are so quick to judge, but I bet you all would do the same damn thing if you could"

No. I wouldn't. If you would then clearly you have no integrity.

[staticall]

This is a quote from Sapkowski:
“I was stupid enough to sell them rights to the whole bunch,” Sapkowski said at the time. “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.”

It shouldn't be like that, you signed a contract, a legal document, you can't change it just because you want more money.

Imagine, if you bought a house for, let's say, $250 000. Then, some time later (let's say, 3 years passed), now it costs $500 000. Will it be ok for former house owner to tore up the contract and demand another $250 000 from you?
Or another example, you had, let's say, 1000 EA stocks, you sold them for $10 a piece. Then, 2 months later, price for each stock went up to $100 per stock. Is it ok to demand all the missing profits?

No, in both cases. He took the safer route and "lose" in a long run. It's ok, it happens. He should be smarter next time.

[rdgneoz3]

He was offered a percentage. He refused and wanted cash. They tried to treat him right, but the idiot refused and bitched years later that they were successful. He signed a contract, he got paid what he wanted. What more they're giving him now is out of the kindness of their hearts.

[TheOpenWorlder]

No. He sued them. There's a difference. No major corporation does anything "out of the kindness of their hearts" when it comes to handing out money. Get your head out of your bum.

[Lord_Sloth]

Not really because I would have taken the percentage deal instead of telling people who think well enough of my work to want to expand upon it they'll "all be failures so give me money now"

[rainslacker]

I judge, because I feel a law like this sets bad precedents where people can take a larger lump sum up front, instead of taking the risk that it may fail, but then still reap the benefits if something is successful.

Contract law becomes meaningless if someone can just redefine the terms later. If I buy something at a set price or terms, I don't expect the seller to come back later and demand more money. If i were flipping a house, and I paid $100K for the house itself, put in $60K, and then resell the house for $300K, is it right if the person who sold me the house then demands more money for my efforts?

The writer did nothing to promote the game. He didn't collaborate on the development of the game, or the story other than providing the original source material which was already brought and paid for. He actively tried to bring the devs and the game down publicly and with much vitriol. He sued the dev because he wasn't happy they saw more success with his work than he ever did.

Yet, it's within his right to demand more?

It's not being rude to judge this guy, it's being realistic about what expectations should exist. Polish law may be the way it is for a reason, but in this case, it seems that the reasons are unethical to anyone who really considers the implications of what's happening. Sure, he has a right. It doesn't mean it's right to do what he is.

[Fist4achin]

He was kind of a weenie about things because he didn't have much faith in his series becoming a video game. Oh well, I am happy to see everyone coming to a favorable agreement with hope for more in the future.

[Miacosa]

Is man behind Geralt the chief of police from the new RE 2 Remake?

[Elwenil]

Doesn't look like it:

https://www.imdb.com/name/n...

[TheColbertinator]

I'm happy both sides came to an agreement

[FalloutWanderer2077]

This is fantastic news! The whole thing could have turned into a nightmare scenario for CDPR and the fans. I also like the part where it hints at some potential future collaboration, maybe Sapkowski in his glorious stubbornness has finally accepted that games have their place in art and deserve some respect. I love the universe and books he's created which led to the amazing adaptation that CDPR brought to life in video game form.

Hopefully going forward both parties working together can only mean good things for both the games and Sapkowski. Many in the West would have never found out about the Witcher novels if it were not for CDPR. I'd wager that Andrzej received an increase in Western sales over the past decade.

I'm thankful to both Sapkowski and CDPR whom without I would have never found what's now one of my all-time favorite game franchises and book series.

[jznrpg]

Cool. He was stupid to not take the percentage as he would have easily made the money he asked for and more even if Witcher sold much less. Good for him because it is his work but it’s a good lesson learned for others that games can be better money makers than their own work .

[adamwparker]

This author is super lucky that CDPR is such a great company. They recognize his self cheated feelings, even though brought on by himself. But they also see his temper tantrum greed. The guy is a total ass through all of this, yet the company still finds a way to make things work.
He's lucky they didn't just curb his ass.