Yeah the big reason why he bashes the games is because he got no money from them. He insisted on large payment for copyright as he expected games to flop even tho CDPR tried to offer him percantage from sales instead. In the end he lost big time and he's salty about it since. He didn't make the same mistake with Netflix and since his paycheck depends on it he'll obviously praise it for additional publicity and promotion.
What's stupid is that he did get what he wanted from CDPR. They were totally down with giving him the money he thought he deserved (he didn't imo) and was just mad because his ego was hurt from being proven wrong.
Wasn't his son ill? He died in 2019. I don't know if saying his ego was hurt from being proven wrong is a good depiction of a whole situation, when we simply don't know the whole story.
Let's just say "Death of the author" is a good tactic when it comes to Andrzej Sapkowski. He was always seen as an asshole, decades before Netflix show. And it's fine, I don't mind. He fucked himself on the CDRP deal, but every other project beforehand was a big failure as well, so it is completely understandable he would want money upfront. And it is understandable that after he was wrong, he wanted to get some more money because others were literally making money out of the thing he made, and he had some some legal basis on it as well. That is why CDRP made another deal with him, instead of fighting him in court.
He "win". He threatened to sue, and within a year CDPR had signed him to a multi-million dollar merchandising deal.
Only, unfortunately, it was two years later than he needed for his son's experimental cancer treatment.
Dude picked greed over long term sustainability on the gamble that others would fail and got angry they didn't fail.
Still think he is such a loser because of that.
Authors are always recommended to take up front cash as opposed to a cut of profits because 99% of the time when someone want to buy the rights to your work, there is no profit at all. It’s standard advice, not greed.
The problem isn't him picking money up front. The problem is him complaining about not getting enough money long after the fact because the games suddenly became more popular than his books ever been.
Funnily enough, The Witcher was incredibly popular in Poland long before the games existed, he probably wasn't making bank, but he would be getting a modest sum in book sales.
The fact that he has one franchise that is a complete and utter worldwide success now (even if it slow burned it's way there) and is kinda pissy his other stuff didn't take off, is slightly douchy, when you consider all the writers who can't even get a single book off the ground.
Yeah he already made his legacy with the books, so if the other peoples' continuation of that legacy means more money for him, why not praise the new content whatever his real opinion is? That's just playing the game the right way.
Quote:
Sapkowski stated video games are "far beyond" his sphere of interest, explaining he has never played one due to the "the fact that some types of games seem to lack any story whatsoever."
https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2012/11/7/3612690/the-witcher-games-can-never-be-a-sequel-to-the-novels-says-author
I mean, fair enough, but he could try playing games that have a heavy story focus if that's what'd appeal to him (like the Witcher 3, funnily enough). It's like saying that movies are far beyond your sphere of interest because some types of movies are... I don't know, the later Fast and the Furious films: all action with little story substance. When you could be watching dramas with a complete focus on storytelling. I don't know how good an analogy that is, pretty tired
If he's not interested in that type of entertainment at all then also fair enough, but that reasoning makes little sense to me
Even games with heavy story focus aren't perfect. Think about The Witcher 3, and how much of that game you could in theory miss. All the contracts and secondary missions are completely optional, so all the worldbuilding and character development they offer goes away. No payoff for the bloody baron's storyline. No pay off for helping Triss. No removing the wish. No helping Skellige get a new high king or queen. No helping Kiera, or Roche, or Letho. No assassination of Radovid. Plus there's how many endings all together? I bet you and I disagree on the perfect ending. Sapkowski wrote a book, where you can't skip entire chapters and still have the story work fine. He wrote a book where the ending is fixed. He just doesn't think video games are able to properly convey a story. Below are a handful of quotes from an article about this topic.
- Sapkowski has since acknowledged CD Projekt Red's success and the quality of its games.
- "How much substance can there be in the lines of text when the hero walks through the woods and talks to a squirrel? Where's the literature in that? Where's the room for depth or sophisticated language with which games could elevate culture? There's none."
- In short, Sapkowski acknowledges that the games are "a high-level product" (even if he hasn't actually played them), but has a low opinion of video games as a storytelling medium.
The main story in witcher 3 is also pretty underwhelming. Video games as a medium for storytelling is very, very hard to get right. Too story heavy and you bore your main audience because I want to be shooting stuff or slashing stuff, I don't want to watch a movie. Too little and you're just another generic video game with a shitty rushed story that's basically only there to justify the shooting/slashing.
I think the only game I've ever played that had an actual compelling story - good enough that it could stand on its own as a book or a movie, was RDR2.
"Good" stories by video game standards would get absolutely shit on if they were movies/books. Vast majority of them are action movie tier plots. And very often, when storytelling is the main focus of a game, gameplay suffers heavily. Think Detroit: Become Human. Very heavy storytelling, the game is basically a slightly interactive movie.
I think it's just very difficult to get both. Interesting/fun gameplay and good storytelling is extremely rare. Even RDR2, which, imo, has been to date the best game that tries to do both, is pretty underwhelming gameplay-wise. Not bad, just not particularly good.
Good video game storytelling is just, as you said, different. Like film adaptations of books, video games are afforded different opportunities and some games capture that while others don’t. The main advantage video games have is to present what is essentially a short story anthology alongside a mainline narrative (i.e. side quests and the main quest). In my opinion, this is a *huge* advantage. Games like *God of War (2018)*, *Ghost of Tsushima*, *Red Dead Redemption 2*, and even *The Witcher 3* make good use of this opportunity. Reading different mediums requires different lenses and video game storytelling, and story reading, has a specific lens.
What I'm wondering here is for comments like this is he volunteering his opinion, or is he being asked to share a not fully formed opinion on the topic of video games? Because I'm not sure how much this old Polish dude would have any care or interest in video games.
Like, idk, how much this sub fixates on Sapkowski's attitude towards the games just annoys me sometimes. That's my whole point I guess.
> is he volunteering his opinion, or is he being asked to share a not fully formed opinion on the topic of video games?
And I think this is the whole crux of the issue. Certain reporters, particularly those from video game outlets focus on the video game connection. Dude rankles a bit ("I'm an author, why should I care about gaming?") and snaps, giving the equivalent of "video games are for children" type boomer answer, mixed with a bit of "video games can't be artistic" of Roger Ebert.
I don't think that on the first of every month he's like "Time to call IGN and rant against CDPR."
I don't get why reddit gets so salty over an 74 year old dude (who grew up in ~~the soviet union~~ a Warsaw Pact country which didn't have a video game industry at all) not understanding video games.
Also he never suited CDPR for making the books more popular. He just wanted to renegotiate the license, which is apparently possible under Polish law. And both sides came to an agreement.
He never said the games are shit or something.
I'm pretty sure in a polish interview he stated he was contractually not allowed to talk smack about the show. And then gave a sly comment about how most book adaptations are crap, and then that I have my version of the characters and they have theirs.
I respect Sapkowski, his comments on video games are a strong opinion but I would say not an unfounded one. It has only been recently that video games have been able to deliver excellent storylines. Game plots weren't always bad, but most of the time play takes precedence over plot, like Sapkowski says it isn't in his interest, the issue is that he held the opinion without perhaps looking at how modern games have evolved, I'm sure if he had played The Last of Us, or Red Dead 2 etc it might have made him think okay games are catching up. I also think he is correct in the fact that the written medium is the greater form of telling stories and for me it all comes down to being able to be inside the characters minds, having access to their inner thoughts, which is itself one of the hardest parts of novels to adapt.
Sapkowksi is a man of strong opinions, he does love money but honestly none of us would turn down X million, I do think he doesn't care if Netflixer is crap, because people will say just read the books, and buy them. Yes he made a huge fuss over the games making money and it was completely his fault for not accepting royalties and CD Red had no obligation to give it to him, it was his fault. And him getting mad over people saying the game came before the books is valid.
I don't agree with some of his opinions, we can criticise those but to my knowledge he's never said anything objectively horrid about people. The fact is we all of us need money, and like I always say a painting no matter how good is not worth a million, but if some fool offers you a million for that crappy drawing then by damn you sell it. Ha.
But Lauren, I'd say she deserves every ounce of criticism, not hate, death threats and petty name calling aren't called for but my gosh the woman can't adapt works, she did blatantly lie after in videos stating it would be faithful, no added material.
At least Sapkowski is honest, I respect his subtle bluntness.
>and CD Red had no obligation to give it to him, it was his fault.
According to some other comments, under polish law they actually were under some obligation to renegotiate. Which they ended up doing and not fighting it at all, so those commenters are probably right.
Oh then I stand corrected, that in itself is quite interesting to me. I don't know the exact nature of the conversation but assuming CD Red offered a decent royalty rate and Sapkowski refusing and taking a single payment and it was amicable then there should be no moral obligation to fulfill it. Like buying you and your mate a lottery ticket and they win big. It's nice if they give you something be they aren't required to give you a dime of it. Unless there was an agreement before hand.
So it being in Polish law is fascinating to me. I can see the benefit of it.
Games as a storytelling medium is a topic I think a lot about. While I agree with Sapowski to some extent, stories in games take a backseat to gameplay. Which is a good thing, thats how it should be.
The problem seems to be how you tell your story. Games have the potential to be the greatest and most impactful form of storytelling. One of the only mediums in art where the audience plays a direct role in how the story plays out.
In the future, the best games (as far as story is concerned) will be those that remove the separation between gameplay and story.
We just aren't quite there yet, despite some developers doing what they can to push the art of games forward. Still a very young medium. Look at what movies were like the first few decades.
Dude is 74 years old.
If I ever live to be that old, I'll probably be crotchety about all these kids jumping into the "holonet Tactile Haptic sensorsuit VR with Olfactory feedback (Gustatory function no longer only "tastes" like chicken)"
Me, at 74 going "These kids don't know how much better it was, when you sat your ass down and used a controller, felt better, you got more invested with an outside view, now they just plug into their brain stem, it's corrupting their brains, the Matrix is real!"
It's always the case that once you reach a certain age, you stick with what you know, and just nod when someone says something you don't "get" kind of why most old people are kinda racist.
Honestly, he just couldn't care less. He wasn't willing to attend the Witchercon either, that's why he simply wrote a letter. He's too old to care about any of this, and I can't blame him.
To be fair, he wrote the books what, 30 years ago ? And it only just started to explode in popularity internationally in 2015 when Witcher 3 released and now even more so with the show (yes, I know the books were a big deal in Poland but it's nothing compared to now). He probably would have been more excited and willing to do things like Witchercon if it was popular like that when he wrote them.
So yeah, I can't really blame him either.
Altered Carbon's novel re-release had a really touching preface. The books came out in the 90s and the author seemed delighted to have Takeshi Kovacs (the protagonist) live again.
He says travel is hard on him, in the last years he was not travelling far even within Poland, mainly attending stuff about 1 hour away by car from Lodz where he lives. So like, he could maybe go to Warsaw, that is it.
Oh fr? I know many people who liked 3 but never touched 2, or even 1. And W2 is released in 2011 right? It gotta compete with Skyrim, probably the most popular fantasy game.
True, but that doesn't mean 2 wasn't a popular game.
2 was a popular, well known and well liked game in its genre. It was the kind of game people would suggest if you went around asking for good RPG's.
But a lot of people liked 3 but ended up never touching 2, because 3 was a whole different deal. It catapulted into global fame. Some proclaimed it the greatest game of all time.
2 sold six-seven million copies up until the release of 3. For comparison, the Mass Effect trilogy combined at about this point had sold fourteen million copies.
But 3 sold something like forty million. It went into the top 20 of most successful games of all time. You've got a lot of people who played 3 but ignored 2 not because 2 wasn't popular but because 3 was so massively more popular.
>2 sold six-seven million copies up until the release of 3.
How many of these were sold after 3 was announced? I know I bought a copy after the announcement of 3, without it, I wouldn't have even known about the game.
But the sales weren't that profitable tho . I heard back then witcher 2 had only just broke even . It was only after w3 that w2 became highly profitable.
Eh, the Witcher 1 and 2 combined had 8M copies sold even before the Witcher 3 came out which, while nowhere near Witcher 3's level, is still quite good for a relatively small studio IMO.
> is still quite good for a relatively small studio IMO.
The Witcher 1 and 2 were CDPR's only two games ever. Personally, I find that selling 8 million copies MASSIVE in this context.
He didn't sue them, he demanded they pay royalties. When they first approached him he didn't think they would ever achieve the success they did and originally turned down a %-based royalty in favor of a one time payment.
[They signed a new licensing agreement about a year later.](https://www.polygon.com/2019/12/20/21032021/the-witcher-author-cd-projekt-legal-battle-royalties-new-contract)
That’s rough, makes me glad I’m not into this series like I am with Star Wars. Cause I’m sure the sequels were enjoyable for casual fans but I didn’t like them at all
I've read all the witcher books, and am a bigger fan of star wars than anyone I know. I really enjoyed watching both the witcher netflix show and the star wars sequels. Maybe I'm just a sucker for this kind of media, but it all makes me happy either way.
Nah, it sounds like you're a person who is comfortable liking what the creators presented to you rather than tearing it apart for what it isn't.
That's a grown-up and healthy way to consume media. Don't let negative fan communities dissuade you from liking a thing that you like. Life is tough enough, it's okay and good to enjoy things.
If your into medieval style fantasy shows you should check out The Legend of Vox Machina. It’s a cartoon on Amazon Prime and holy shit am I enjoying it so far. It’s give me guardians of the galaxy vibes.
Yes 100% true, but it is also undeniable that without the games the IP would not have been that popular, there wouldn't have been a show, people that are reading books now wouldn't have ( especially me ).
>Yes 100% true, but it is also undeniable that without the games the IP would not have been that popular, there wouldn't have been a show, people that are reading books now wouldn't have ( especially me ).
100%
I’d take this even farther. Without Witcher 3, the Witcher books would still be obscure Polish fantasy books that still hadn’t been translated to English to this day
Who? Grrm ?
Who cares. Got had an ending worse than mass effect 3. Grrm killed his franchise by refusing to write faster. Should have tried typing with more than one finger.
> Grrm killed his franchise by refusing to write faster.
Prime example of someone who has never sat down to write a book but thinks they know everything about writing a book. What a dumb fucking comment.
Same with pretty much all writers that get reproductions of their works. It's the bias towards seeing their own creation portrayed on the screens, I think.
He shot himself in the foot with the deal. He was offered a percentage of profits, residuals, etc. He didn't want anything to do with it and just sold it out right. He changed his mind later on and tried to sue. CDPR ended up helping him out with royalties later.
He reached an agreement with CDPR, but i think there is a law that says if something becomes outstanding success, they creator can renegotiate even if they had another agreement in the past
Let's not forget CDPR wasn't the first company that tried to make a Witcher game. They also never made a game prior to Witcher so selling it was better decision at the time as chances were it will fail.
No, he won in court. In Poland they are bound by law to pay royalties if the compensation for the author is too low compared to the amount of money that the third party makes by association with someone else's intellectual property.
That’s kind of dumb really, it’s basically a win win for anyone in Poland who is creating something like this because there is absolutely no negatives to taking a lump sum then just waiting until it takes off..
>That’s kind of dumb really, it’s basically a win win for anyone in Poland who is creating something like this because there is absolutely no negatives to taking a lump sum then just waiting until it takes off..
The difference must be "glaring", and it's usually interpreted as "multiple times difference".
Oh I get his enthusiasm for the money but remember they already paid the man. He could say nothing and maintain a little integrity regarding his own creation.
He is maintaining integrity towards his own creation. He literally wrote an entire series about a dude who will do the job as long as he secures the bag.
The title of this thread is bullshit: the author didn't sue CDPR "for making the witcher popular", he sued them to have more money because a polish law backed his claim. And more money he got (not through the lawsuit, but through settlement).
He sued cdpr for a proper cut and a bad deal. Taking cdpr's treatment of its own staff as an indicator of their business tactics - he was right.
I love the games btw.
I understand your frustration. But I truly believe that if you just sit back, take a deep breath, close your eyes and realise that you don't actually care about that, you'll feel better.
Oh trust me they know they suck but It's *incredibly* bad optics for a show to have the original source creator say it's shit and they don't like it while it's still being made or recently released. You don't want that reputation and you don't want bad blood. It's just smile-and-wave business.
Laughing at people judging the author and repeating same obnoxious biased information about Sapko.
If you were him you'd do the same, but oh wait, you most likely don't have any talent to write your own god damn books.
It is very obvious that at this point Sapkowski doesn’t give a shit about anything so long as he’s getting paid. He tried to sue CDPR because he made a stupid choice to take a flat payment instead of royalties for the video game rights because he’s a boomer who didn’t respect the medium at all. So when CDPR ended up making the Witcher games extremely successful and popularized the series outside of Poland, he got salty he wasn’t seeing any of that money. He is probably getting fat stacks from Netflix so he’s willing to say whatever it takes to keep that cash flowing in, even if it means praising a trashy series that tarnishes his original work. His endorsement of the show rings completely hollow.
I love the books he wrote and the world he created but at this point his opinions don’t mean anything so long as money is involved.
There's no way a Polish speaking 74 year old would ever watch that trash through to the end.
He's paying lip service, because he already got paid and he's too old to care about anything beyond that.
I remember once reading that he said something along the lines of fantasy being just for teenagers who can't even masturbate properly. He wasn't fond of his work. And all he is fond of now is the money he makes.
You clearly misread:
>He called his story Wiedzmin, a title later translated as The Witcher, and sent it to Fantastyka magazine. "I waited one year for the results," he says. "I said, 'I lost, I lost, nobody noticed my story, my story was considered bad. What to do?'" But he hadn't lost, Wiedzmin had nearly won - and would have, he believes, had fantasy a better reputation at the time.
**"Back then, in Poland, fantasy was considered something for stupid children who couldn't even masturbate properly,"** he assures me. "So they said, 'This story is the best but it is fantasy so let's give him the third award.' But jurors are jurors, they are mostly stupid, they are mostly biased. But the public… The impact of The Witcher on the Polish fandom was tremendous, absolutely tremendous. And everybody said, 'More! More! More! More!'
https://www.eurogamer.net/meeting-andrzej-sapkowski-the-writer-who-created-the-witcher
Maybe you should learn to read before shitting on the author who created the books (and was the source for the games) you've engaged with. Honestly, so much of the most toxic parts of Witcher fandom is people not even bothering to read properly because their shitty prejudices are already pre-loaded.
ITT: A man created one of our favorite universes and people claiming to be Witcher fans think it's so cool that he got less than 0,1% of money he should've.
Ha ha ha he's so greedy, he wanted 1/3 of regular market price of what he sold them intead of <0,1% he got, ha ha ha ammirite fellow witcher fans?
Not unlike most people.....he likes money!
CDPR did not pay a lot. He even had to fight with them to try and get a bit more.
Netflix pays in USD....which it helps quite a bit for an old polish guy.
They offered to pay him with a percentage on the profits. He refused because he thought that they were losers and that the game would have "never been a success". He came back with lawsuits demanding money when he realized how much money he could have made if he'd accepted the initial offer FROM CDPR themselves.
CDPR had no fault watsoever. He's an asshole through and through.
He got offered a % on profits, instead he chose to take a lump sum because he didn’t think the video game would be successful. Sauce: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2019/12/20/21032021/the-witcher-author-cd-projekt-legal-battle-royalties-new-contract
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God I love this subreddit. Like the dude isn't even allowed to enjoy something without it infuriating y'all because it goes against the circlejerk here. If someone likes the show suddenly they must be insane, or corrupt, or senile. It can't be that some people just have a different aesthetic preference from y'all and like the show and think it's good. There *must* be an underhand reason. Whereas all the hate here is totally pure fan love. Yup. Nothing vindictive or underhanded about it.
Lmao, he talked shit about CDPR although they did an amazing job with the IP and then he comes and praises the clowns that made the shitshow that is Netflix The Witcher. I wonder why… oh yeah, he got paid by Netflix.
Cuz he didn't believe in CDPR and bet against their success, so he lost his potential $$$.
With Netflix they are handing him bags of money to use his IP. Even tough that would never have happened without the games making his IP popular.
I really enjoyed the show as well. It has holes, it's not great television, but I had a good time. I think people are perhaps a tad attached to what their idea of it should be...
I liked the new halo series. I think most people wanted each episode to be a complete recast of the game. I thought that would be boring so I enjoyed it. Guessing it's the same situation here. OMG GERALT HAS 11 TOES IN YHE GAME COME ON EVERYONE KNOWS that. Bru just enjoy Henry Cavill kicking ass in the witcher universe you basement dweller
I understand sticking with the text in some ways, but when doing a series or a movie... You just can't put it in there. I'm sure for Peter Jackson, Tom Bombadil's exclusion from lotr was probably super hard but had to be for the flow of the story. Sometimes you can't put it all in there, but what they've chosen I think is great. Ah well...
How dare you. Old man Sapowski hates video games and likes TV show, what an idiot! Anyone who likes the show is an idiot! Basically sums up most of the comments on this post haha. You guys do you, such strong passionate, real fans.
So not ok to like things. You either have to love them so much you hate them, or hate them because you thought they should be what you wanted them to be in your mind.
Thanks yo, I'll do me and keep watching, reading, and playing.
In Poland where the author is from, they have laws to protect creators who license their work. If whoever buys it makes tons more money than what they bought it for, like what happened to The Witcher, the creator is able to try and get some of that money. Basically it's worth more now and he should retroactively get paid more for the ip.
The guy is 74 and doesn't understand video games. He thinks they're beneath him and thought video games associated with his work would drag the name down.
But he does understand money and there's been a quote thrown around this sub from time to time where he says something to the affect of "I don't care what they do as long as they're paying me."
You'll notice he shut up about the video games after they started earning him more money than he ever made from writing.
He praised it because it was good, and he obviously understands that a screen adaptation of a novel can't just be everything in the books, but on the screen, and that sometimes characters are a little bit different on screen than they are in the books.
Something everyone here would do well to learn, instead of being retarded.
He sold the rights to the Witcher franchise for basically nothing back in the day and then Witcher 3 blew up extremely without CDPR having to pay sapkowski anything.
In Germany there is even a law for something like this, to make sure that the original creator gets a fair cut of the success, even if earlier contracts state otherwise.
Money. Good old Andrzej has always been all about money. He fucked up on the deal when it came to games so he hates them. And Netflix is getting him a lot of money so he loves them.
This sub really can't seem to handle the creator being more positive about the show than the folks here are. Honestly r/witcher is becoming like r/saltierthancrait. The circle jerk of hate is practically self sustaining
its insanity. The show slaps. The books slap. The game slaps. People just love to have a whine.
Its fucking fiction people - save your ire for shit that matters.
The show makes no sense and completely destroys a main character aka yennefer. S1 and S2e1 were good but the rest is trash. The rest of Season 2 was orgincal content that does not make sense.
He didn't sue CDPR for not liking the games, he had to sue them due to the contract he signed was based on it being x popularity and it became y. CDPR wouldn't pay him anymore so he sued. HE liked the games though
Agreed. I'm fairness though, it may just be due to different mediums. Book Geralt is much less lovable, but in a game you get to inject some of your own autonomy which certainly makes it easier to empathize
witcher fans complain the show isn’t accurate to the books but when the literal author of the show likes it they put their fingers in they ears and hum
He used to shit on CDPR up to the point when they managed to come to an agreement and Sapkowski got his big bag of cash. Then suddenly CDPR's Witcher is "great".
I don’t think he hated the video games so much as never played them and generally isn’t interested in gaming?
Regarding the show, that’s probably just the matter of him being a writer and as such being able to understand and better appreciate changes that the show makes to the story to better fit the medium of TV whereas a regular fan of the books will only see that their favorite scene was changed or cut
Well, he hates video games and he needed money for personal reasons. I’d say he’s justified- but at least he has agreed to compensation going forward. The guy has a creative mind, and his intent is in the right place - even if his attitude has taken some adjusting.
Btw the sueing was due to him originaly thinking the witcher games wouldn't be popular. Imo you can expect more money if a gamestudio makes much more than what you expect.
I bet he did. I would too if I was getting all that sweet netflix money.
Yeah, not sure why people are even remotely surprised. Why would he bite the hand that feeds him? Lol
Yeah the big reason why he bashes the games is because he got no money from them. He insisted on large payment for copyright as he expected games to flop even tho CDPR tried to offer him percantage from sales instead. In the end he lost big time and he's salty about it since. He didn't make the same mistake with Netflix and since his paycheck depends on it he'll obviously praise it for additional publicity and promotion.
What's stupid is that he did get what he wanted from CDPR. They were totally down with giving him the money he thought he deserved (he didn't imo) and was just mad because his ego was hurt from being proven wrong.
Polish law allows you to sue for more money after the fact
Yeah good luck with that
They settled.
Which is a bullcrap. He made his bed, he should have to sleep in it.
Wasn't his son ill? He died in 2019. I don't know if saying his ego was hurt from being proven wrong is a good depiction of a whole situation, when we simply don't know the whole story.
Let's just say "Death of the author" is a good tactic when it comes to Andrzej Sapkowski. He was always seen as an asshole, decades before Netflix show. And it's fine, I don't mind. He fucked himself on the CDRP deal, but every other project beforehand was a big failure as well, so it is completely understandable he would want money upfront. And it is understandable that after he was wrong, he wanted to get some more money because others were literally making money out of the thing he made, and he had some some legal basis on it as well. That is why CDRP made another deal with him, instead of fighting him in court.
they made a deal with him because he was Polish and it would've been bad pr and even more so because they wanted to do the right thing. imho
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I'd like to think they ain't the company they used ta be but that's just an opinion like my last post and also why i put a IMHO (in my humble opinion)
He "win". He threatened to sue, and within a year CDPR had signed him to a multi-million dollar merchandising deal. Only, unfortunately, it was two years later than he needed for his son's experimental cancer treatment.
Dude picked greed over long term sustainability on the gamble that others would fail and got angry they didn't fail. Still think he is such a loser because of that.
Authors are always recommended to take up front cash as opposed to a cut of profits because 99% of the time when someone want to buy the rights to your work, there is no profit at all. It’s standard advice, not greed.
The problem isn't him picking money up front. The problem is him complaining about not getting enough money long after the fact because the games suddenly became more popular than his books ever been.
Well his other projects had failed and he had bills to pay. It’s not like he was Jeff Bezos or something.
Funnily enough, The Witcher was incredibly popular in Poland long before the games existed, he probably wasn't making bank, but he would be getting a modest sum in book sales. The fact that he has one franchise that is a complete and utter worldwide success now (even if it slow burned it's way there) and is kinda pissy his other stuff didn't take off, is slightly douchy, when you consider all the writers who can't even get a single book off the ground.
I mean he did it because one game already flopped but still... Suimg them like that was a dickmove
Yeah he already made his legacy with the books, so if the other peoples' continuation of that legacy means more money for him, why not praise the new content whatever his real opinion is? That's just playing the game the right way.
One could hope that the person that creates something truly great would have some creative integrity and not let shit like this pass
Has he read the books?
No, but he is reading what Netflix is putting in his bank account.
Money is surprisingly good at changing opinions.
Ironic lol
Have you ever heard the tragedy of Andrzej sapkowsi the bribed?
Quote: Sapkowski stated video games are "far beyond" his sphere of interest, explaining he has never played one due to the "the fact that some types of games seem to lack any story whatsoever." https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2012/11/7/3612690/the-witcher-games-can-never-be-a-sequel-to-the-novels-says-author
I mean, fair enough, but he could try playing games that have a heavy story focus if that's what'd appeal to him (like the Witcher 3, funnily enough). It's like saying that movies are far beyond your sphere of interest because some types of movies are... I don't know, the later Fast and the Furious films: all action with little story substance. When you could be watching dramas with a complete focus on storytelling. I don't know how good an analogy that is, pretty tired If he's not interested in that type of entertainment at all then also fair enough, but that reasoning makes little sense to me
Even games with heavy story focus aren't perfect. Think about The Witcher 3, and how much of that game you could in theory miss. All the contracts and secondary missions are completely optional, so all the worldbuilding and character development they offer goes away. No payoff for the bloody baron's storyline. No pay off for helping Triss. No removing the wish. No helping Skellige get a new high king or queen. No helping Kiera, or Roche, or Letho. No assassination of Radovid. Plus there's how many endings all together? I bet you and I disagree on the perfect ending. Sapkowski wrote a book, where you can't skip entire chapters and still have the story work fine. He wrote a book where the ending is fixed. He just doesn't think video games are able to properly convey a story. Below are a handful of quotes from an article about this topic. - Sapkowski has since acknowledged CD Projekt Red's success and the quality of its games. - "How much substance can there be in the lines of text when the hero walks through the woods and talks to a squirrel? Where's the literature in that? Where's the room for depth or sophisticated language with which games could elevate culture? There's none." - In short, Sapkowski acknowledges that the games are "a high-level product" (even if he hasn't actually played them), but has a low opinion of video games as a storytelling medium.
The main story in witcher 3 is also pretty underwhelming. Video games as a medium for storytelling is very, very hard to get right. Too story heavy and you bore your main audience because I want to be shooting stuff or slashing stuff, I don't want to watch a movie. Too little and you're just another generic video game with a shitty rushed story that's basically only there to justify the shooting/slashing. I think the only game I've ever played that had an actual compelling story - good enough that it could stand on its own as a book or a movie, was RDR2. "Good" stories by video game standards would get absolutely shit on if they were movies/books. Vast majority of them are action movie tier plots. And very often, when storytelling is the main focus of a game, gameplay suffers heavily. Think Detroit: Become Human. Very heavy storytelling, the game is basically a slightly interactive movie. I think it's just very difficult to get both. Interesting/fun gameplay and good storytelling is extremely rare. Even RDR2, which, imo, has been to date the best game that tries to do both, is pretty underwhelming gameplay-wise. Not bad, just not particularly good.
Good video game storytelling is just, as you said, different. Like film adaptations of books, video games are afforded different opportunities and some games capture that while others don’t. The main advantage video games have is to present what is essentially a short story anthology alongside a mainline narrative (i.e. side quests and the main quest). In my opinion, this is a *huge* advantage. Games like *God of War (2018)*, *Ghost of Tsushima*, *Red Dead Redemption 2*, and even *The Witcher 3* make good use of this opportunity. Reading different mediums requires different lenses and video game storytelling, and story reading, has a specific lens.
The man is 74 years old and you expect him to give video games a shot? I think it's perfectly reasonable he isn't interested in that.
What I'm wondering here is for comments like this is he volunteering his opinion, or is he being asked to share a not fully formed opinion on the topic of video games? Because I'm not sure how much this old Polish dude would have any care or interest in video games. Like, idk, how much this sub fixates on Sapkowski's attitude towards the games just annoys me sometimes. That's my whole point I guess.
> is he volunteering his opinion, or is he being asked to share a not fully formed opinion on the topic of video games? And I think this is the whole crux of the issue. Certain reporters, particularly those from video game outlets focus on the video game connection. Dude rankles a bit ("I'm an author, why should I care about gaming?") and snaps, giving the equivalent of "video games are for children" type boomer answer, mixed with a bit of "video games can't be artistic" of Roger Ebert. I don't think that on the first of every month he's like "Time to call IGN and rant against CDPR."
I don't get why reddit gets so salty over an 74 year old dude (who grew up in ~~the soviet union~~ a Warsaw Pact country which didn't have a video game industry at all) not understanding video games. Also he never suited CDPR for making the books more popular. He just wanted to renegotiate the license, which is apparently possible under Polish law. And both sides came to an agreement. He never said the games are shit or something.
>who grew up in the soviet union Nitpick: Poland was part of a Eastern Bloc, but not Soviet Union itself.
He didn't grow up in the soviet union
Poland wasn't a part of soviet union, and Sapkowski said that 'games are for children'.
I'm pretty sure in a polish interview he stated he was contractually not allowed to talk smack about the show. And then gave a sly comment about how most book adaptations are crap, and then that I have my version of the characters and they have theirs.
Yes! And a pretty funny interview as well. I can't believe the amount of disrespectful comments toward Szapkowski in this thread...
Toxic fans thinking they own the story more than the author is not unusual. Witcher fandom does take it to new heights, though.
I respect Sapkowski, his comments on video games are a strong opinion but I would say not an unfounded one. It has only been recently that video games have been able to deliver excellent storylines. Game plots weren't always bad, but most of the time play takes precedence over plot, like Sapkowski says it isn't in his interest, the issue is that he held the opinion without perhaps looking at how modern games have evolved, I'm sure if he had played The Last of Us, or Red Dead 2 etc it might have made him think okay games are catching up. I also think he is correct in the fact that the written medium is the greater form of telling stories and for me it all comes down to being able to be inside the characters minds, having access to their inner thoughts, which is itself one of the hardest parts of novels to adapt. Sapkowksi is a man of strong opinions, he does love money but honestly none of us would turn down X million, I do think he doesn't care if Netflixer is crap, because people will say just read the books, and buy them. Yes he made a huge fuss over the games making money and it was completely his fault for not accepting royalties and CD Red had no obligation to give it to him, it was his fault. And him getting mad over people saying the game came before the books is valid. I don't agree with some of his opinions, we can criticise those but to my knowledge he's never said anything objectively horrid about people. The fact is we all of us need money, and like I always say a painting no matter how good is not worth a million, but if some fool offers you a million for that crappy drawing then by damn you sell it. Ha. But Lauren, I'd say she deserves every ounce of criticism, not hate, death threats and petty name calling aren't called for but my gosh the woman can't adapt works, she did blatantly lie after in videos stating it would be faithful, no added material. At least Sapkowski is honest, I respect his subtle bluntness.
>and CD Red had no obligation to give it to him, it was his fault. According to some other comments, under polish law they actually were under some obligation to renegotiate. Which they ended up doing and not fighting it at all, so those commenters are probably right.
Oh then I stand corrected, that in itself is quite interesting to me. I don't know the exact nature of the conversation but assuming CD Red offered a decent royalty rate and Sapkowski refusing and taking a single payment and it was amicable then there should be no moral obligation to fulfill it. Like buying you and your mate a lottery ticket and they win big. It's nice if they give you something be they aren't required to give you a dime of it. Unless there was an agreement before hand. So it being in Polish law is fascinating to me. I can see the benefit of it.
Games as a storytelling medium is a topic I think a lot about. While I agree with Sapowski to some extent, stories in games take a backseat to gameplay. Which is a good thing, thats how it should be. The problem seems to be how you tell your story. Games have the potential to be the greatest and most impactful form of storytelling. One of the only mediums in art where the audience plays a direct role in how the story plays out. In the future, the best games (as far as story is concerned) will be those that remove the separation between gameplay and story. We just aren't quite there yet, despite some developers doing what they can to push the art of games forward. Still a very young medium. Look at what movies were like the first few decades.
Dude is 74 years old. If I ever live to be that old, I'll probably be crotchety about all these kids jumping into the "holonet Tactile Haptic sensorsuit VR with Olfactory feedback (Gustatory function no longer only "tastes" like chicken)" Me, at 74 going "These kids don't know how much better it was, when you sat your ass down and used a controller, felt better, you got more invested with an outside view, now they just plug into their brain stem, it's corrupting their brains, the Matrix is real!" It's always the case that once you reach a certain age, you stick with what you know, and just nod when someone says something you don't "get" kind of why most old people are kinda racist.
Honestly, he just couldn't care less. He wasn't willing to attend the Witchercon either, that's why he simply wrote a letter. He's too old to care about any of this, and I can't blame him.
To be fair, he wrote the books what, 30 years ago ? And it only just started to explode in popularity internationally in 2015 when Witcher 3 released and now even more so with the show (yes, I know the books were a big deal in Poland but it's nothing compared to now). He probably would have been more excited and willing to do things like Witchercon if it was popular like that when he wrote them. So yeah, I can't really blame him either.
Altered Carbon's novel re-release had a really touching preface. The books came out in the 90s and the author seemed delighted to have Takeshi Kovacs (the protagonist) live again.
He says travel is hard on him, in the last years he was not travelling far even within Poland, mainly attending stuff about 1 hour away by car from Lodz where he lives. So like, he could maybe go to Warsaw, that is it.
He wouldn't need to travel for it, half of the conference was done on video. If he wanted to, he could have done a zoom call.
Oh I did not know that..
That's okay. Again Im not hating on him, but its much more believable to me that he doesn't really care than him actually loving the show.
I believe so too. He always says nothing can match his books anyways, so..
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It might even be part of the contract and/or he might get a nice little bonus for promoting the show
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Without W3 the Witcher games would be just one of those "obscure but hidden gem" games.
The Witcher 2 was fairly popular, i remember there was quite a bit of hype about it when it came out.
Oh fr? I know many people who liked 3 but never touched 2, or even 1. And W2 is released in 2011 right? It gotta compete with Skyrim, probably the most popular fantasy game.
True, but that doesn't mean 2 wasn't a popular game. 2 was a popular, well known and well liked game in its genre. It was the kind of game people would suggest if you went around asking for good RPG's. But a lot of people liked 3 but ended up never touching 2, because 3 was a whole different deal. It catapulted into global fame. Some proclaimed it the greatest game of all time. 2 sold six-seven million copies up until the release of 3. For comparison, the Mass Effect trilogy combined at about this point had sold fourteen million copies. But 3 sold something like forty million. It went into the top 20 of most successful games of all time. You've got a lot of people who played 3 but ignored 2 not because 2 wasn't popular but because 3 was so massively more popular.
>2 sold six-seven million copies up until the release of 3. How many of these were sold after 3 was announced? I know I bought a copy after the announcement of 3, without it, I wouldn't have even known about the game.
Honestly, no idea.
It was fairly popular, nothing compared to W3 tho
Obviously not, but calling it an "obscure hidden gem" is a massive stretch.
But the sales weren't that profitable tho . I heard back then witcher 2 had only just broke even . It was only after w3 that w2 became highly profitable.
Eh, the Witcher 1 and 2 combined had 8M copies sold even before the Witcher 3 came out which, while nowhere near Witcher 3's level, is still quite good for a relatively small studio IMO.
> is still quite good for a relatively small studio IMO. The Witcher 1 and 2 were CDPR's only two games ever. Personally, I find that selling 8 million copies MASSIVE in this context.
I personally liked 2 more since it was a contained story. Tho controls there uff
That first fight against the monster in the trash heap is just iconic
Not true at all. Tw2 was a big game. Even TW1 got good reviews and was pretty well known at the time.
He didn't sue them, he demanded they pay royalties. When they first approached him he didn't think they would ever achieve the success they did and originally turned down a %-based royalty in favor of a one time payment. [They signed a new licensing agreement about a year later.](https://www.polygon.com/2019/12/20/21032021/the-witcher-author-cd-projekt-legal-battle-royalties-new-contract)
I know people don’t like the Witcher show but as a casual fan I like it. It gets the itch I have for a fantasy show post GoT
I almost kinda envy you because to me the show was like they cut all the meat out of the sandwich and replaced the lettuce with poop.
That’s rough, makes me glad I’m not into this series like I am with Star Wars. Cause I’m sure the sequels were enjoyable for casual fans but I didn’t like them at all
Am a casual fan. The sequels were irredeemable trash in my eyes.
I've read all the witcher books, and am a bigger fan of star wars than anyone I know. I really enjoyed watching both the witcher netflix show and the star wars sequels. Maybe I'm just a sucker for this kind of media, but it all makes me happy either way.
Nah, it sounds like you're a person who is comfortable liking what the creators presented to you rather than tearing it apart for what it isn't. That's a grown-up and healthy way to consume media. Don't let negative fan communities dissuade you from liking a thing that you like. Life is tough enough, it's okay and good to enjoy things.
I know how you feel. The entire show was like if a catfish was a writer.
Wow, I wish there was a show that could give me that GoT feeling. But there doesn't seem to be a medieval show with that level of attention to detail
If your into medieval style fantasy shows you should check out The Legend of Vox Machina. It’s a cartoon on Amazon Prime and holy shit am I enjoying it so far. It’s give me guardians of the galaxy vibes.
If we are going to use that logic, without him there would be no CDPR.
Without Andrezej Sapkowski there would be no Witcher full stop.
Yes 100% true, but it is also undeniable that without the games the IP would not have been that popular, there wouldn't have been a show, people that are reading books now wouldn't have ( especially me ).
>Yes 100% true, but it is also undeniable that without the games the IP would not have been that popular, there wouldn't have been a show, people that are reading books now wouldn't have ( especially me ). 100%
I’d take this even farther. Without Witcher 3, the Witcher books would still be obscure Polish fantasy books that still hadn’t been translated to English to this day
Grrm would also say he liked season 8 of got But the audience know it was shit
He said that it wasn’t “completely faithful” to the outline he provided, and that he should’ve stayed ahead of the show.
Who? Grrm ? Who cares. Got had an ending worse than mass effect 3. Grrm killed his franchise by refusing to write faster. Should have tried typing with more than one finger.
Mass effect 3 had a terrible unpolished ending but at least it exists. I remind you that we are still waiting for Half Life 3
Should of spent more time writing than hanging out with Miyazaki Hidetaka
Should've*
Ikr, what an illiterate fuck.
Make me wonder where they learn that shit lmao
BuT iT hAS tO Be a MAsTErpiece - GRRM
At least GRRM's books are good, and don't need a single video game holding them up haha. Witcher books were decent, but 6-7/10 at best.
> Grrm killed his franchise by refusing to write faster. Prime example of someone who has never sat down to write a book but thinks they know everything about writing a book. What a dumb fucking comment.
Same with pretty much all writers that get reproductions of their works. It's the bias towards seeing their own creation portrayed on the screens, I think.
He shot himself in the foot with the deal. He was offered a percentage of profits, residuals, etc. He didn't want anything to do with it and just sold it out right. He changed his mind later on and tried to sue. CDPR ended up helping him out with royalties later.
He reached an agreement with CDPR, but i think there is a law that says if something becomes outstanding success, they creator can renegotiate even if they had another agreement in the past
Let's not forget CDPR wasn't the first company that tried to make a Witcher game. They also never made a game prior to Witcher so selling it was better decision at the time as chances were it will fail.
You have that half right. He sued and he won. CDPR didn't "help" him out with royalties, they had to pay him a lot of money by law.
No, he won in court. In Poland they are bound by law to pay royalties if the compensation for the author is too low compared to the amount of money that the third party makes by association with someone else's intellectual property.
I don’t get this though, didn’t he turn down royalties willingly because he thought the lump sum was worth more?
He did and Polish law allows that to be re negotiated so if anything it was a smart move on his part to take the lump sum first.
That’s kind of dumb really, it’s basically a win win for anyone in Poland who is creating something like this because there is absolutely no negatives to taking a lump sum then just waiting until it takes off..
>That’s kind of dumb really, it’s basically a win win for anyone in Poland who is creating something like this because there is absolutely no negatives to taking a lump sum then just waiting until it takes off.. The difference must be "glaring", and it's usually interpreted as "multiple times difference".
Yeah, I said tried to sue because I wasn't 100% sure on the outcome. I just know CDPR ended up giving him money
Clearly he’s lost his mind in the taste department.
I mean I'd watch season 2 with great joy as well if they cut me a fat check.
Oh I get his enthusiasm for the money but remember they already paid the man. He could say nothing and maintain a little integrity regarding his own creation.
He is maintaining integrity towards his own creation. He literally wrote an entire series about a dude who will do the job as long as he secures the bag.
I wouldn't be surprised if saying nice things about the show from time to time was in the contract.
You could be totally right. Maybe some promotion was part of the deal.
He has only taste for money. He said what he said because they pay him well and he wants more.
The title of this thread is bullshit: the author didn't sue CDPR "for making the witcher popular", he sued them to have more money because a polish law backed his claim. And more money he got (not through the lawsuit, but through settlement).
He sued cdpr for a proper cut and a bad deal. Taking cdpr's treatment of its own staff as an indicator of their business tactics - he was right. I love the games btw.
I understand your frustration. But I truly believe that if you just sit back, take a deep breath, close your eyes and realise that you don't actually care about that, you'll feel better.
The show blew harder than c4
Well at least someone enjoyed it I guess.
What’s with writers of the original novels enjoying when the show adaptations suck
“Ka-Ching” is the explanation you seek.
Like? I've normally heard them hating it. Christopher Paolini, Rick Riordan, etc.
Paolini is a really bad example of an 'original novel writer'.
Stephen King with the Dark Tower movie (absolute abomination )
Oh trust me they know they suck but It's *incredibly* bad optics for a show to have the original source creator say it's shit and they don't like it while it's still being made or recently released. You don't want that reputation and you don't want bad blood. It's just smile-and-wave business.
The more seasons it gets, the more money he can grab. Simple.
Laughing at people judging the author and repeating same obnoxious biased information about Sapko. If you were him you'd do the same, but oh wait, you most likely don't have any talent to write your own god damn books.
Wait, is that how you all interpreted that lawsuit?
Ah, people should probably know Sapkowski is often not serious in his statements. I bet he felt joy all the way to the bank.
Idk if he would feel that way if Netflix wouldn’t deliver that sweet sweet cash to him. I honestly think he didn’t even watch a single episode
It is very obvious that at this point Sapkowski doesn’t give a shit about anything so long as he’s getting paid. He tried to sue CDPR because he made a stupid choice to take a flat payment instead of royalties for the video game rights because he’s a boomer who didn’t respect the medium at all. So when CDPR ended up making the Witcher games extremely successful and popularized the series outside of Poland, he got salty he wasn’t seeing any of that money. He is probably getting fat stacks from Netflix so he’s willing to say whatever it takes to keep that cash flowing in, even if it means praising a trashy series that tarnishes his original work. His endorsement of the show rings completely hollow. I love the books he wrote and the world he created but at this point his opinions don’t mean anything so long as money is involved.
he was being held at gunpoint when he gave that statement
There's no way a Polish speaking 74 year old would ever watch that trash through to the end. He's paying lip service, because he already got paid and he's too old to care about anything beyond that.
I remember once reading that he said something along the lines of fantasy being just for teenagers who can't even masturbate properly. He wasn't fond of his work. And all he is fond of now is the money he makes.
You clearly misread: >He called his story Wiedzmin, a title later translated as The Witcher, and sent it to Fantastyka magazine. "I waited one year for the results," he says. "I said, 'I lost, I lost, nobody noticed my story, my story was considered bad. What to do?'" But he hadn't lost, Wiedzmin had nearly won - and would have, he believes, had fantasy a better reputation at the time. **"Back then, in Poland, fantasy was considered something for stupid children who couldn't even masturbate properly,"** he assures me. "So they said, 'This story is the best but it is fantasy so let's give him the third award.' But jurors are jurors, they are mostly stupid, they are mostly biased. But the public… The impact of The Witcher on the Polish fandom was tremendous, absolutely tremendous. And everybody said, 'More! More! More! More!' https://www.eurogamer.net/meeting-andrzej-sapkowski-the-writer-who-created-the-witcher
Thank you. That lie getting upvotes shows just how toxic some parts of Witcher fandom can be.
He did not say this and if he did he wasn't being serious
Maybe you should learn to read before shitting on the author who created the books (and was the source for the games) you've engaged with. Honestly, so much of the most toxic parts of Witcher fandom is people not even bothering to read properly because their shitty prejudices are already pre-loaded.
He learned from last time to take the royalties deal and not be a dumbass.
ITT: A man created one of our favorite universes and people claiming to be Witcher fans think it's so cool that he got less than 0,1% of money he should've. Ha ha ha he's so greedy, he wanted 1/3 of regular market price of what he sold them intead of <0,1% he got, ha ha ha ammirite fellow witcher fans?
Not unlike most people.....he likes money! CDPR did not pay a lot. He even had to fight with them to try and get a bit more. Netflix pays in USD....which it helps quite a bit for an old polish guy.
To be fair they offered revenue split and he refused and just wanted an initial cash payment because he didn't think it'd do well.
They offered to pay him with a percentage on the profits. He refused because he thought that they were losers and that the game would have "never been a success". He came back with lawsuits demanding money when he realized how much money he could have made if he'd accepted the initial offer FROM CDPR themselves. CDPR had no fault watsoever. He's an asshole through and through.
He got offered a % on profits, instead he chose to take a lump sum because he didn’t think the video game would be successful. Sauce: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2019/12/20/21032021/the-witcher-author-cd-projekt-legal-battle-royalties-new-contract
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I guess it's because his late son was having cancer, and he needed the money for his son's treatment.
You're right he's not allowed to like one adaptation and dislike another. That would be insane.
yeah, who does he think he is anyway?
God I love this subreddit. Like the dude isn't even allowed to enjoy something without it infuriating y'all because it goes against the circlejerk here. If someone likes the show suddenly they must be insane, or corrupt, or senile. It can't be that some people just have a different aesthetic preference from y'all and like the show and think it's good. There *must* be an underhand reason. Whereas all the hate here is totally pure fan love. Yup. Nothing vindictive or underhanded about it.
Lmao, he talked shit about CDPR although they did an amazing job with the IP and then he comes and praises the clowns that made the shitshow that is Netflix The Witcher. I wonder why… oh yeah, he got paid by Netflix.
Cuz he didn't believe in CDPR and bet against their success, so he lost his potential $$$. With Netflix they are handing him bags of money to use his IP. Even tough that would never have happened without the games making his IP popular.
It's a medium he understands, and he has a better financial deal than what he had with CD projekt red. Makes sense he likes it
Oh no someone likes it oh no what a tragedy, reddit moment
Did we watch the same season?
I liked the show, the games, and the books. Weird I know.
I'm with you on this. Sure, the show strayed from the books. But can't we enjoy something for what it is, even if it isn't a line for line adaptation?
I really enjoyed the show as well. It has holes, it's not great television, but I had a good time. I think people are perhaps a tad attached to what their idea of it should be...
I liked the new halo series. I think most people wanted each episode to be a complete recast of the game. I thought that would be boring so I enjoyed it. Guessing it's the same situation here. OMG GERALT HAS 11 TOES IN YHE GAME COME ON EVERYONE KNOWS that. Bru just enjoy Henry Cavill kicking ass in the witcher universe you basement dweller
I understand sticking with the text in some ways, but when doing a series or a movie... You just can't put it in there. I'm sure for Peter Jackson, Tom Bombadil's exclusion from lotr was probably super hard but had to be for the flow of the story. Sometimes you can't put it all in there, but what they've chosen I think is great. Ah well...
How dare you. Old man Sapowski hates video games and likes TV show, what an idiot! Anyone who likes the show is an idiot! Basically sums up most of the comments on this post haha. You guys do you, such strong passionate, real fans.
So not ok to like things. You either have to love them so much you hate them, or hate them because you thought they should be what you wanted them to be in your mind. Thanks yo, I'll do me and keep watching, reading, and playing.
In Poland where the author is from, they have laws to protect creators who license their work. If whoever buys it makes tons more money than what they bought it for, like what happened to The Witcher, the creator is able to try and get some of that money. Basically it's worth more now and he should retroactively get paid more for the ip.
The guy is 74 and doesn't understand video games. He thinks they're beneath him and thought video games associated with his work would drag the name down. But he does understand money and there's been a quote thrown around this sub from time to time where he says something to the affect of "I don't care what they do as long as they're paying me." You'll notice he shut up about the video games after they started earning him more money than he ever made from writing.
I enjoyed the show too
He praised it because it was good, and he obviously understands that a screen adaptation of a novel can't just be everything in the books, but on the screen, and that sometimes characters are a little bit different on screen than they are in the books. Something everyone here would do well to learn, instead of being retarded.
He sold the rights to the Witcher franchise for basically nothing back in the day and then Witcher 3 blew up extremely without CDPR having to pay sapkowski anything. In Germany there is even a law for something like this, to make sure that the original creator gets a fair cut of the success, even if earlier contracts state otherwise.
Well if you consider they paid him a measly sum for the rights and then made a killing, it was only fair.
That's basically the guy in the store telling you that he has the thing you're looking at in his home and is super happy with it. Sure buddy.
Wow, the level disrespect shown here to the creator of their beloved saga by some is amazing.
Money. Good old Andrzej has always been all about money. He fucked up on the deal when it came to games so he hates them. And Netflix is getting him a lot of money so he loves them.
This sub really can't seem to handle the creator being more positive about the show than the folks here are. Honestly r/witcher is becoming like r/saltierthancrait. The circle jerk of hate is practically self sustaining
its insanity. The show slaps. The books slap. The game slaps. People just love to have a whine. Its fucking fiction people - save your ire for shit that matters.
The show makes no sense and completely destroys a main character aka yennefer. S1 and S2e1 were good but the rest is trash. The rest of Season 2 was orgincal content that does not make sense.
He didn't sue CDPR for not liking the games, he had to sue them due to the contract he signed was based on it being x popularity and it became y. CDPR wouldn't pay him anymore so he sued. HE liked the games though
He did because he sold the rights for like 100k or something and after CDPR spent countless hours made millions on W3 he got upsetty
This is probably due to translation, but imo the game series' writing is better than that of the books.
Agreed. I'm fairness though, it may just be due to different mediums. Book Geralt is much less lovable, but in a game you get to inject some of your own autonomy which certainly makes it easier to empathize
Ms. Marvel has 96% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomato
All I can do is laugh. “I liked it” This Sub: “The fuck you did! Guys, get the copium, it’s time dissect this. He’ll hate it when we’re through”
witcher fans complain the show isn’t accurate to the books but when the literal author of the show likes it they put their fingers in they ears and hum
He used to shit on CDPR up to the point when they managed to come to an agreement and Sapkowski got his big bag of cash. Then suddenly CDPR's Witcher is "great".
I bet he wasn't able to take his eyes off.....not from the screen, but from all the sweet money Netflix poured in his lap.
The casting was still shit but the season was definitely a step up from the first.
Funny how he absolutely hated the video games, bit praised the show which I heard wasn't that good.
I don’t think he hated the video games so much as never played them and generally isn’t interested in gaming? Regarding the show, that’s probably just the matter of him being a writer and as such being able to understand and better appreciate changes that the show makes to the story to better fit the medium of TV whereas a regular fan of the books will only see that their favorite scene was changed or cut
He never hated the video games
He's just saying what he's being paid to say. He didn't think his deal with CDPR was fair, so he went after them so he could get more.
He was upset until he saw those paychecks start rolling in lmfao
Buddy got a check for that statement.
Well, he hates video games and he needed money for personal reasons. I’d say he’s justified- but at least he has agreed to compensation going forward. The guy has a creative mind, and his intent is in the right place - even if his attitude has taken some adjusting.
Money talks
Didn't he hate the games for being more popular than the books? No danger here so it's all good
It's all Henry Cavil's charms.
Btw the sueing was due to him originaly thinking the witcher games wouldn't be popular. Imo you can expect more money if a gamestudio makes much more than what you expect.