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CD Projekt RED Will Pay Andrzej Sapkowski Additional Royalties For The Witcher - Report
- Thread starter Deleted member 249
- Start date
Of course, that's what the initial contract is for. You think if Sapkowski became a massive best selling author and CDPR flamed out after making one Witcher game he'd be offering them money because they gambled with his IP? Of course not.
Yep, I agree. It's only that as we are in a videogame forum, and A.S. is known for be "against" videogames, we see usually people position against the writer, and sometimes forgetting that all that "mature, dark fantasy" world that we all known and love is not a CDPR creation.
Yeah as I mentioned earlier, the first two games sold best on regions that had the books. So popularity of the books definitely helped the franchise to take off and continue into the third game. And while Witcher 3 was a huge success and not dependant on the books popularity, the stories CDPR tells are still based on his books as are many (not all) of the characters. They continue this even with Thronebreaker (Queen Meve as the player character), they are still taking new characters and stories from him rather than just creating new from the scratch.
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If they decided to settle, it's likely cause they didn't want to deal with who knows how long of a legal battle that only takes away focus from cyberpunk. Since they offered less and it was accepted, just shows his initial demands were made as high with the hopes of settling somewhere in between.
It's enough of a gesture of good will to appease him, question is if he'll keep the grudge for any future collab they want him involved in.
It's enough of a gesture of good will to appease him, question is if he'll keep the grudge for any future collab they want him involved in.
There really hasn't been a collaboration so far (decision by Sapkowski not the devs), so I don't think this will affect that whatsoever.
I'm sure most fans of The Witcher games know Sapkowski is the original creator of the world and he should be thanked for the games existence just as much as CDPR. It's just the way he goes about it that kinda.. rubs me the wrong way. Look at George R. R. Martin, Dmitry Glukhovsky or even Mike Pondsmith to see how authors and creators of such worlds could behave when someone is adapting their work in another medium.
I'm not against him getting paid though, but the way he sold the rights without having any faith in CDPR and once they were successful asking for more is just kinda sad.
I find it kind of bizarre some people seem to take CDPR's public relations word on this 100% and then literally the next sentence seem to turn around and say they aren't paying their employees enough.
CDPR is a company. They act as a company, which means they'll try and get away with whatever they can. They'll also pay out when they feel they need to for whatever reason, not necessarily out of the goodness of their heart. They'll make it seem like that for PR reasons, though.
Realistically disputes like this come up all the fucking time and we can't tell who's in the right if anyone at all. WB had a big dispute with the Tolkein estate at least a few times from what I can remember. Who was right there? I don't know, because I wasn't in the arbitration process. Same with here. Maybe Sapkowski did have a leg to stand on with Polish law. Maybe he didn't really and they thought this would give good PR. Who knows?
CDPR is a company. They act as a company, which means they'll try and get away with whatever they can. They'll also pay out when they feel they need to for whatever reason, not necessarily out of the goodness of their heart. They'll make it seem like that for PR reasons, though.
Realistically disputes like this come up all the fucking time and we can't tell who's in the right if anyone at all. WB had a big dispute with the Tolkein estate at least a few times from what I can remember. Who was right there? I don't know, because I wasn't in the arbitration process. Same with here. Maybe Sapkowski did have a leg to stand on with Polish law. Maybe he didn't really and they thought this would give good PR. Who knows?
Why though? CDPR offered him royalties and he denied them because he didn't believe in the game, opting for a flat fee instead. He made a choice and signed a contract.
if they settled this for good they will have a waterproof clause in it.
Yeah, this I agree. Sapkwoski made several bad decisions regarding CDPR and he deserved to not get paid bevause of them, but I dislike how some people here is always ready to disregard the writer and praise CDPR nonstop.
I'm glad they reached an agreement. I love the franchise (books and games) so seeing them in this situation was bothering me a bit.
This just sets the precedent for nobody to take royalties when offered and always take the higher initial payout, because then you can just sue for royalties if it does well.
He had the choice of a one off cash sum or a percentage, he took the cash sum as he didn't think the games would make any money. This was when CDPR were complete unknowns, Sapkowski had the strong position in the negotiations, it's not like it was a case of a large company misleading somebody or deliberately screwing them out of royalties.
If this is how CDPR want to play it then fair enough, everybody's happy but Sapkowski threatening legal action simply because the deal he chose turned out to be the lesser option is really shitty and speaks volumes about his character.
I said that months ago with how poland laws are, that would happen. Not with what he wanted but still a big quantity of royalties.
Very deserved as this video game franchise wouldn't exist without the author since he created everything.
Very deserved as this video game franchise wouldn't exist without the author since he created everything.
Where is this coming from? Has there been stories about the company mistreating their employees?
He chose to sell the rights cheap because he didn't want to take the risk, and he didn't believe in video games. It was fully his choice. I don't think that's his due to get the results of taking the risk without actually taking it. CDPR was a small developer at the time, they wanted to pay him royalties rather than cash, he refused and forced them to pay cash they didn't really have. That could have ruined the company.
Man fuck that author completely. I don't like the idea of people being taken advantage of or not being paid for their work but they offered dude a deal and he balked and demanded cash and they fucking agreed on it. He signed his godamn name and proceeded to trash said company and games in general until he realized that their creative endeavor was - and will forever be - wildly more sucessfull than his stupid books.
I know the country he's based in has some insanely leniant laws favoring his argument but i hope something turns the screw on this dudes life at some point in the near future for being such a douchebag.
I know the country he's based in has some insanely leniant laws favoring his argument but i hope something turns the screw on this dudes life at some point in the near future for being such a douchebag.
and there would be no royalties if W3 would not be as big as it is. It works both ways. And theres quite a bit original stuff , thats not taken from the books in games. You dont need to downplay CDPR to praise Sapkowski
We don't know the circumstances his life was at, when he made the choice to sell the right's.
In the end this game is based off his work and imagination, and this will keep a healthy relationship between those two which will help us the consumers get more expanded universe of witcher with new storyline from the author.
But we do know the reason he chose what he did, because he didn't believe in video games or CDPR and didn't think anything would come from the deal. He didn't want to risk not getting anything if the project fell through (which he believed would happen), he thought he was just getting a quick payday.
That's why I said cdproject did the right thing. He was ignorant with his decision but that didn't stop him from making new books of witcher even though he knew he wasn't going to get any money of the video game.
But why is that "the right thing"? CDPR took a huge risk paying him for the rights, he took zero risks by choosing to take the cash. Why should he be rewarded for making what he considered a smart choice, and then trying to reneg on the deal, asking for more money just because they made a lot of money? He still says he doesn't like video games, and doesn't like the fact that the Witcher games are so popular. All he cares about is the money.
Not that great of reviews on glassdoor.com with just 58% recommendation to work there, and I believe there were some instances of people who should have been salaried were instead just contract workers to avoid paying benefits.
He doesn't deserve an additional dime, but good on CDPR for being the bigger "person". Hope he learns not to be cocky in the future.
"Should be salaried" is a legal definition you likely don't want to get into and will not win, companies are diligent to make sure contacted workers absolutely do not do work to be considered salaried. This is beyond common and accepted in tech roles.
Also keep in mind Glassdoor has a huge bias towards disgruntled workers, same as any review source.
I've yet to talk to colleagues at CDPR who were not ecstatic about working there, and I've had the great pleasure of meeting a few.
"Should be salaried" is a legal definition you likely don't want to get into and will not win, companies are diligent to make sure contacted workers absolutely do not do work to be considered salaried. This is beyond common and accepted in tech roles.
Also keep in mind Glassdoor has a huge bias towards disgruntled workers, same as any review source.
I've yet to talk to colleagues at CDPR who were not ecstatic about working there, and I've had the great pleasure of meeting a few.
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Cause he could have moved on to some other book after he sold off the rights but he made new books which were used in lore of Witcher 2 and 3.
Was there ever any analysis of the specific Polish law Sapkowksi's lawyers were citing? A quick search says it was article 44 in Poland's 1994 copyright law which says it can be invoked when the compensation remitted to the author is too low given the benefits obtained in association with the use of that author's work.
It seems like CD Projekt could argue that the success of the series isn't a result of the association to the property, but I don't recall what the consensus was on that claim.
It seems like CD Projekt could argue that the success of the series isn't a result of the association to the property, but I don't recall what the consensus was on that claim.
I wasn't downplaying CDPR. It's the complete truth that without Sapkowski, the games wouldn't exist as he's the creator of the series and the characters, story, worldbuilding and everything came from his thoughts and head. The same is true for every thing that is adapted that only exists because a person created in a original media and then a company adapted to other media.