MULTI The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski demands more than $16M in royalties

[manigamer]

[h=2]Documents allege deal with CD Projekt Red was only for the first game in the series'[/h]

Andrzej Sapkowski, the author of The Witcher series of novels, is demanding more than $16 million in royalties from CD Projekt Red, makers of The Witcher series of video games. The demand was made public today online at a Polish stock exchange where shares of CD Projekt are traded on the open market.
The Witcher games are based on the novels which Sapkowski, who grew up in the city ofŁódź, first published in 1986. Following its success localizing games for the Polish market, CD Projekt secured the license to create the first game in a new series, called simply The Witcher, which was published in 2007. The game was a success and catapulted its main character, Geralt of Rivia, into the global pantheon of fantasy heroes.
From our 2014 feature story:

According to CD Projekt Red, without The Witcher game, there wouldn’t even be The Witcher at all. The stories were popular in Poland, but the video game turned main character Geralt and his universe into a worldwide sensation.
”We weren’t buying The Witcher,” says [co-founder Marcin] Iwinski, referring to CDPR’s purchase of The Witcher rights from author Andrzej Sapkowski. “We were buying a [story] and then we turned it into The Witcher, which became known all around the world.”
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An English version of Sapkowski’s letter, which we have embedded below, makes two serious allegations against CD Projekt. First, it claims that the royalty contract negotiated between the two parties runs afoul of a specific Polish law regarding royalty payments.
“It may 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,” the letter, written by representatives for Sapkowski, states. “Notably, the latter condition is considered fulfilled if the compensation remitted to the author is too low by a factor of at least two.”
In an interview last year, Sapkowski revealed to Eurogamer that he sold the rights to the entire Witcher catalog to CD Projekt for a fixed sum, a decision he later came to regret.
“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.”
Rather than the lump sum payment negotiated previously, the letter requests six percent of the profits obtained for the lifetime of the franchise. For the earnings on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt alone, the letter claims Sapkowski is entitled to at least 60 million Polish Zlotys, or around $16.11 million.
In addition to applying Polish law, the letter goes even further by claiming that the agreement between CD Projekt and Sapkowski only ever pertained to the first video game in the series.
“Therefore distribution of all other games,” the letter states, “including their expansions, add-ons etc., is, simply speaking, unlawful.”
Demand for Payment by Andrzej Sapkowski by Polygondotcom on Scribd

In addition to posting the letter from Sapkowski, CD Projekt also posted its response. Roughly translated from Polish, it calls the author’s claims groundless.
“All liabilities payable by the Company in association therewith have been properly discharged,” it concludes.
Polygon has reached out to CD Projekt Red for comment.

 

[Necrokiller]

Sapkowski for the rest of his life:

 

[GloriousChicken]

He may be entitled for that much... but they can probably settle for a lower amount.

 

[serialklr]

Personally I don't think that the writer deserves any amount more than he has already received. He himself said he didn't want percentage of share as be didn't believe the game would be a success which is arguably analogous to him not believing enough in his own story.
If gameplay was not good enough, there wouldn't have been witcher 2 or 3 and it wouldn't have got the spot light it has around the globe.

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[Spartan 117]

Dude doesn't deserve any more than what he has already gotten as it was a done deal. He's just embarrassing himself with this.

 

[Necrokiller]

He's contradicting his own statement he gave to Eurogamer last year. Why did he wait until now to threaten them? Where was he when CDPR profited from Witcher 2?

I think CDPR should pay him off so he can shut up about it already and he can focus on his Netflix show which is entirely getting an audience thanks to the universal success of the games.

 

[EternalBlizzard]

The best part is, the author wrote,

Both we and you are, after all, fully aware of the fact that even going public with a copyright claim may negatively impact the Group’s reputation and further growth
This is particularly true if the claim concernsyour core activity and your most important product...

And CDPR decides to just post that letter on to their website, damn they got balls :lol: :lol:

I'm with CDPR on this one, the author was stupid to let go of the copyright with just a small amount. Sounds like a childish act... It's when playing rock paper scissors and you lose and
you are crying to your big brother like "One more time, please ONE MORE TIME, I don't want you to eat my ice cream..."

Edit:- Oh and not to mention the games have surely made the books popular as well, so all those book lovers would have surely bought the books since the game captures only a small amount of the actual lore. So the games have already worked in his favor as well. Plus people playing the game after reading the novels and lore surely gives a more homey feel. I tried reading some lore about Yennefer and Geralt and I truly enjoyed playing their missions after that (that genie part particularly)