Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: Andrzej Sapkowski, CD Projekt Red, the witcher, the witcher 2, The witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher Author Gets No Money From The Games

This one has been making the rounds, but Andrzej Sapkowski, the mastermind behind the tales of Geralt of Rivia, recieves no royalties from the games made by CD Projekt Red. Which is pretty terrible since The Witcher III: Wild Hunt borrows pretty heavily from Sapkowski's novels.

Sapkowski's primary issue comes straight down to ignorance. In an interview with Eurogamer, Sapkowski revealed that he does not care much for video games and that led him to underestimating the amount of profit CD Projekt Red would get out of video game adaptations of his Witcher novels.

"Sapkowski doesn't remember how the conversation went but he remembers agreeing to the game. "Well they brought a big bag of money!" he says. It was the same reason he said yes to Chmielarz. 'What I expect from an adaptation: a big bag of money. That is all.'"

Meanwile, CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski mentioned an offer that "wasn't a huge amount of money".

Sapkowski continues: "I agreed they would write a completely new story using my characters, my ontology of this crazy world. But they would create completely new stories. I said, 'Why not? Please, please, show how good you are.'"

And they did. CD Projekt Red's first stab at the series has snowballed into a series with spinoffs and world-wide acclaim.

Because Sapkowski's novels were not published in English until 2008, the deal "was f***ing bad for me," he said. So now his characters have outgrown his own fame, where in Poland, Sapkowski's name sold the games. In the English speaking world, the games sell Sapkowski's novels. At least among those gamers willing to brave the local Barnes and Noble where the books are often prominently featured.

The lack of royalties from the games have hurt Sapkowski very much, and that serves as a lesson to other writers. If a game developer asks for the rights to your characters, you might want to read the fine print on that deal.

Video games are not the only adaptations of Sapkoeski's world. Dark Horse comics has a fantastic series written by Paul Tobin and drawn by Joe Querio, though the property rights there are likely more highly negotiated.

And with fans ravenous for even more of Geralt and his friends, even after hundreds of hours of gameplay, they may do as I have and find Sapkowski's novels. Which I highly recommend.

And from the text of that interview, it sounds like there will be a new book coming sometime in our future.

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