The Witcher Author Andrzej Sapkowski Gets Sellers' Remorse, Wants $16 million from CD Projekt Red

[Easo]

Silly man.
He was offered a one time payment, or royalties and he made his choice. I would be more in his support if he hadnt said all those things he said after the Witcher games got off ground - IIRC, calling gamers dumb and games something similar to a joke, attempting to say that games SUUUUREEELLLYYY didnt influence sales of his books and even being angry that books were sold with the images of Geralt and others from the game on the cover (which goes together with the second point...).
Bitter old man, after all, which is a shame.

 

[AsRock]

But by giving him money, would they not be admitting they owe him money ?.

 

[dozenfury]

I'm not sure how Polish law around this kind of thing works, but from what I recall when he sold the rights to them he signed them all away. In the US if someone came back looking for more money because something they sold was worth more at a later date, they'd be totally laughed out of court. CD Projeckt Red might give him money out of kindness or a nice gesture, but that would be his only chance I'd think. It doesn't really matter if it's an item or something they created as in this case, he sold it not expecting it to be as popular as it was later - which was completely due to all the work done afterwards by CD Projekt Red.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I say he probably screwed himself with his arrogance about his creation and it’s relation to video games. I agree he is probably owed nothing.

That being said, CDPR has shown itself in many ways to be much more a model of how developers and publishers should act and produce their products. They could continue their good guy image by making a nice gesture and offer him a settlement for much less than he is trying to sue for.

 

[AltCapwn]

He's greedy as I'm pretty sure he got plenty of money from the sales of the book after CDPR made Witcher famous and he just could had learn from his mistake. Now he just seems plain stupid to had refuse a loyalty based on % at first.

I tried looking for number for his book but couldn't find anything except that "The Last Wish" was in "New York Time BestSeller" during the release of The Witcher 3. I think he should be thankful more that greedy. CDPR success has kicked off because of him and his success is international because of CDPR. They owe mutual respect, and maybe CDPR could offer a realist counter-proposition.

 

[Gasaraki]

As CD Projekt said, he really didn't know the potential value of the rights when he signed them over. He has a 1970s worldview. TV and film adaptations are all the rage. Video games are a things nerds do in the parent's basement. He couldn't be further from the truth. CD Projekt basically took advantage of his ignorance. At the time, it made sense for CD Projekt because the risks involved were crazy. It almost didn't work too--Witcher's initial launch was terrible. Somehow they managed to make enough money to create the Enhanced Edition, and then catapult that success into Witcher 2. He came off of one failure and threw CD Projekt a bone because he was expecting another failure. He is not a lawyer nor a fortune teller.

CD Project didn't "take advantage of his ignorance". They offered him % of revenue but because he's ignorant, he didn't take it.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I would rather they give him money and do Witcher 4, 5 and 6

Thats not how it works. Andrzej has already signed away all rights to the witcher. CDPR can make as many games as they want with the IP and do whatever they want with it so long as they dont start writing their own books. Andrzej would get nothing. The only way to achieve your suggested result is if CDPR agreed to nullify/cancel the contract and have it redrawn and at this stage since there is already 3 games + various amounts of DLC out and available, there is zero chance of this happening.

This video here goes into the whole thing a little deeper.... Its the letter from Andrzej's lawyers to CDPR

Note how they are threatening to bad mouth CDPR and create a 'negative shitstorm' surrounding them on social media and all across the internet if they fail to comply and give grumpy guts the money 'He is owed, that he deserves'

Andrzej's lawyers wanted to deal with the situation quietly but since CDPR is a public company, they put it on their website.


Its nothing but extortion at this current point in time.

I recommend everyone to give the video a watch,

 

[Deleted member 177333]

lol. Sapkowski is an idiot. He let the rights go too cheap to begin with, and that's his fault, no one else's. CD Projekt Red doesn't owe him $hit and I'd give him the middle finger if it were me. He's already benefited wildly from CDPR's games - I've bought all of his books and I would never have even heard of them without the games, and I'm sure there are many others out there who wouldn't have heard of them either, had they not played the games.

Go pound salt Sapkowski.

 

[Pruny]

The $9500'ish was appropriate for Witcher but not the subsequent games.

First game wasnt a big hit, he shouldnt get anything for games allready made.

 

[AsRock]

First game wasnt a big hit, he shouldnt get anything for games allready made.

Loved the 1st one, was party due to being on the Aurora engine which i knew very well from NWN, liked it even more with the blood patch too hehe.

 

[R-T-B]

The $9500'ish was appropriate for Witcher but not the subsequent games.

I'd argue for the rights to a world that, at the time was not well known, it was fair.

 

[Vayra86]

Let's face it none of us heard of The Witcher until the first game was released. That alone says it all.

Thats not how it works. Andrzej has already signed away all rights to the witcher. CDPR can make as many games as they want with the IP and do whatever they want with it so long as they dont start writing their own books. Andrzej would get nothing. The only way to achieve your suggested result is if CDPR agreed to nullify/cancel the contract and have it redrawn and at this stage since there is already 3 games + various amounts of DLC out and available, there is zero chance of this happening.

This video here goes into the whole thing a little deeper.... Its the letter from Andrzej's lawyers to CDPR

Note how they are threatening to bad mouth CDPR and create a 'negative shitstorm' surrounding them on social media and all across the internet if they fail to comply and give grumpy guts the money 'He is owed, that he deserves'

Andrzej's lawyers wanted to deal with the situation quietly but since CDPR is a public company, they put it on their website.


Its nothing but extortion at this current point in time.

I recommend everyone to give the video a watch,

Oh wow. This is pure gold

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Sapkowski has claims on "gross discrepancy" while CD Projekt RED has defense based on their contract. I still think they're going to settle out of court.

That said, I'm not sure that CD Projekt RED is on very good financial footing right now. They got a government grant to finish CyberPunk 2077. Would they be asking for grants if money wasn't an issue? They bet the house on finishing that game and it being a commercial success. I'm fairly confident that even if they settle with Sapkowski for as little as $2 million, they wouldn't be able to write a check for that amount and not have it bounce. Sapkowski's settlement will undeniably come out of revenue generated from CyberPunk 2077, not Witcher. If it does go to court, CD Projekt is going to bring that up. Case in point: if the original agreement was for 6%, CD Projekt may have documents showing that they wouldn't have made Witcher 2 because they couldn't afford that much extra royalty cost.

Anything is possible at this point.

 

[rtwjunkie]

You’re so doom and gloom. Financial reports here:

. https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/wp-content/uploads-en/2018/08/key-financial-data_h1-2018.xlsx

“As of the end of June, 2018, the Group held cash, cash equivalents and other monetary assets valued at 607 897 thousand PLN (From the report, 607,897 thousand, with all monies in thousands), and had no outstanding debt under any credit or loan agreements.”

That’s 162 million dollars. They got a grant (which is only $7 million), from an initiative for gaming companies because they could, just like businesses do in the West...because it’s there. I think they are fine.

You forgot about their constant revenue stream of GOG, which was set up to give them steady income between projects, just like Valve did with Steam.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

GOG lost 1.178m PLN or $315,850 in Q2'18. CD Projekt RED is still making a lot of money from sales of games they previously made.

 

[jabbadap]

I'm not sure how Polish law around this kind of thing works, but from what I recall when he sold the rights to them he signed them all away. In the US if someone came back looking for more money because something they sold was worth more at a later date, they'd be totally laughed out of court. CD Projeckt Red might give him money out of kindness or a nice gesture, but that would be his only chance I'd think. It doesn't really matter if it's an item or something they created as in this case, he sold it not expecting it to be as popular as it was later - which was completely due to all the work done afterwards by CD Projekt Red.

Apparently there is law to this kind of cases. From Polish Copyright law:

Article 44.

In the event of a gross discrepancy between the remuneration of the author and the benefits of the acquirer of author's economic rights or the licensee, the author may request that the court should duly increase his remuneration.

 

[R-T-B]

Apparently there is law to this kind of cases. From Polish Copyright law:

There's the rub. Aparently Polish court is different than we are familiar with.

He may have a case, by that wording.