Sapkowski demands CDPR pay him more

[Tytus]

Digital Playground Presents: The Bewitcher: A DP XXX Parody (OFFICIAL TRAILER)

So guys, when do you think Sapkowski will sue Digital Playgrounds for a share in profits of their porn parody?

 

[sullynathan]

That guy is gay

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Requiem Chevalier Vampire is great, tho. Stupid in the simplest terms and self-aware, but great.

I'd say it's a tad too edgy and the art while good on a technical level goes way overboard (but then again, that's intentional). Also it's pretty meandering which is an odd thing considering in how busy it is all the time.

 

[Tytus]

Even if Sapkowski doesn't win any money in court he can just grab a saber and just fight for his rights, like in the old days.

 

[Master]

That guy is gay

He looks more like TW1 Geralt fwiw, than the Hollywood Geralt of TW2/3.
But the "acting" is horrible. They should've done it more like a videogame, with Geralt being stillted, looking past the person hes speaking with, repeating "animations" in conversations etc. Maybe even dub it, so it looks like bad lipsync.
Add glitches, like people passing trough eachother.
Put "quest recived" sound after some conversations.
Maybe add little fake QTEs on the screen in the fight scenes.
Add fake healthbar, status info etc. Minimap etc...
With a little bit of effort it could've been something. As it is it looks like a boring piece of shit and a waste of everyones time, talent and money.

 

[Dayyālu]

This thread makes me legit curious (particularly the defenders of Sapkowski). So, what are his positives? If he's a worthy author, what are the pluses?

His writing style is pedestrian. After reading both translations, he's bad both at painting a fantasy world and in delivering action.

His characters are non-existent bar for NAME JOB BYE. Everything I think about Geralt's personality comes from the games, not from the books.

Plotline? Universe? Derivative and stale. In most of the cases, borderline cringeworthy (particularly in the short stories, where the ..... "inspirations" are particularly clear). Everything he did, someone else did better (and before).

I dunnow, even taking lesser authors than Moorcock (Moorcock's quality is incredibly variable after all), like, I dunnow, Glen Cook (his writing is mediocre, but his universe is original and the POV is novel) or even mediocrities like Sanderson (a man devoid of most skills as a writer that at least shows a glimpse of creativity and improvement) Sapkowski merely stands out as the guy who can't do anything bar being there.

For sure he created the Witcher, its success is more despite him than his merit. I'm legit open to hear what Sapkowski's defenders have to say, because no one in this entire thread has given a single positive about the man as a writer.

I'd say it's a tad too edgy and the art while good on a technical level goes way overboard (but then again, that's intentional). Also it's pretty meandering which is an odd thing considering in how busy it is all the time.

It's literally a joke between being METAL ALBUM COVER EVERY PANEL and being as edgy as they can. But it's all intentional, there's not a gram of pretentiousness in it. So, good for 'em I presume. Also, I'll never stop to find amusing that Ledroit did some of HoMM 5's designs.

 

[Frozen]

He is bad in writing novels, far better in writing short stories.

But they are still great in a "so bad that its funny" way. Things like Geralt sex conquests are like something out of those weekend chicks novels that your grandma would read.

 

[janior]

Digital Playground Presents: The Bewitcher: A DP XXX Parody (OFFICIAL TRAILER)

So guys, when do you think Sapkowski will sue Digital Playgrounds for a share in profits of their porn parody?

OK now, this is epic

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Tytus]

 

[Serus]

For such a bad author (and there is a good argument to be made that he's just an overrated B-class hack) he certainly does provoke a lot of butthurt reactions from some easily triggerable snowflakes, including ones who have trouble with understanding hard English words like "plagiarism". Quite entertaining on its own.

 

[Preben]

The dramas that seems to eternally surround the Witcher are far more entertaining than the books themselves.

 

[sullynathan]

Give the man his money

 

[Raghar]

For such a bad author (and there is a good argument to be made that he's just an overrated B-class hack) he certainly does provoke a lot of butthurt reactions from some easily triggerable snowflakes, including ones who have trouble with understanding hard English words like "plagiarism". Quite entertaining on its own.

Name Polish authors that are decent and recent...

 

[Yosharian]

2) I didn't know about refusing such a deal. It is possible that the deal was much lower than what he could get through court, so he decided to go that route. In the end, CDPR WILL have to pay up, how much, we are going to see in the future.

The Witcher author refused a profit-sharing deal with CD Projekt: 'It was stupid'


By Andy Chalk March 24, 2017

Andrzej Sapkowski wanted his money up-front.

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Most gamers know Geralt, The Witcher, as the lead character of CD Projekt's hit fantasy RPG series of the same name. But he actually originated in a series of short stories and novels written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, dating back to 1992. Sapkowski initially intended to write just one novel, he said in a lengthy and very entertaining interview with Eurogamer, but the acclaim it brought led him to make more, eventually resulting in the sprawling Witcher saga—and interest from videogame developers.

It was actually Adrian Chmielarz's first studio, Metropolis Software, who first approached Sapkowski about making a game based on the novels, but it was CD Projekt that ultimately got the job done. He said he didn't remember the details of the deal, but "they brought a big bag of money," and that was good enough for him. And since he didn't expect the project to amount to much, and believed that videogames, in a broad sense, "are stupid" anyway, he signed a cash-up-front deal and sent them on their way. After that, he had no contact with the studio, much less input on the game's development.

Despite Sapkowski's lack of faith, the game—and the trilogy—became a hit. (Remember when Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave US President Barack Obama a copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings to commemorate his visit to the country?) And the resulting shift of perceived creative ownership, outside of Poland, from the author to the game studio clearly irritates him: Recalling an incident when he was asked if the books are based on the games, he said, "I can remember my reaction: I know many bad words and I used all of them, in many languages."

But the real bite is that he can't even take solace from the obviously lucrative royalties, because there are none. "I was stupid enough to sell them rights to the whole bunch," Sapkowski said. "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."

To his credit, he doesn't begrudge CD Projekt its success, saying, "The game is made very well, and they merit of all of the beneficiaries they get from it." He'll even sign game boxes when asked, because Witcher fans are fans no matter how they came to it, and it would be "very impolite" to turn them away. (You probably still shouldn't ask him if that's where he got the idea for the books, though.) The whole interview is a lot of fun, even if you're not really a Witcher fan—and especially if you are. Catch it all at Eurogamer.

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."

To add to that CDPR also wanted to hire him as a consultant for the game when developing Witcher 1 - but he wrote them a really weird nasty letter basically offending them and saying no - which was turned into a letter that Azar Javed writes to the Profesor in Witcher 1. (if I recall correctly)

BTFO

 

[Serus]

For such a bad author (and there is a good argument to be made that he's just an overrated B-class hack) he certainly does provoke a lot of butthurt reactions from some easily triggerable snowflakes, including ones who have trouble with understanding hard English words like "plagiarism". Quite entertaining on its own.

Name Polish authors that are decent and recent...

What does that have to do with... anything?


But if you insist... Jacek Dukaj would probably be my favourite. "Inne Pieśni" is brilliant and so are some of his short stories. He also had several other solid books though none as good as the one mentioned. I still have to read his last(?) one from 2015, "Starość Aksolotla" (it seems there is an English translation "The Old Axolotl"). He mostly writes SF or, how to call it... "speculative fiction"? I don't care much about fantasy anyway.

 

[Preben]

For such a bad author (and there is a good argument to be made that he's just an overrated B-class hack) he certainly does provoke a lot of butthurt reactions from some easily triggerable snowflakes, including ones who have trouble with understanding hard English words like "plagiarism". Quite entertaining on its own.

Name Polish authors that are decent and recent...

Lem died just 12 years ago.

 

[ColCol]

Look at that cleverly hidden Vodka.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Well, i know most fangirls of Witcher 3 will attack Sapkowski for this move, but he does have a point. Witcher universe is after all, his fucking work. CDPR barely created new lore of their own, most of the fucking characters in the games are from the books, they just wrote fanfiction on top of them. Getting only 10k dollars out of such a profitable property while it is your fucking universe is disgusting. In my opinion, CDPR should have approached him first for a proper deal, but we all know they are terribly greedy, especially seeing how they treat their employees...

You can argue till kingdom come how his work is overrated, wouldn't be known outside of Slavic countries if not for the games, yada yada, this doesn't make him any less right in wanting some compensation, a part of the profit from his own fucking work.

I love how in your world a bunch of no-name programmers tricked a Polish literary superstar into excluding royalties from the agreement because they somehow knew their series was going to be an international success.

As opposed to Sapkowski underestimating video games in general as a vehicle for storytelling, thus going for a one-time fee - something he has openly admitted in the past.

 

[Mastermind]

What a coincidence, I sent Sapowski a letter demanding 10 million dollars in compensation for having to keep hearing about his shit setting.

 

[Mexi]

They need to pay him right naow.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

As someone who does some lawyering in Potatoland, I must say that from pure legal standpoint his claim has merits. There's specific clause on that in the Polish act on IP. Even if you sold rights to some work, you might demand that your fee be increased if the IP value rises in the future. I actually wonder what took him so long. He complained for years about how he wasn't paid enough.

Exactly, not only has he strong legal basis for his claim but there also was a huge flop on stock market yesterday:

https://www.money.pl/gospodarka/wia...sapkowski-cd-projekt-pozew,168,0,2417576.html

CDR has already lost moar then 60.000.000 PLN (x10 of that!) thanks to revelaing the claim. Losses have been reduced later to 'only' 307.000.000 but it stil' x5 of AS's claim value.

Sapkowski has already won.

 

[mondblut]

This thread makes me legit curious (particularly the defenders of Sapkowski). So, what are his positives? If he's a worthy author, what are the pluses?

His writing style is pedestrian. After reading both translations, he's bad both at painting a fantasy world and in delivering action.

His characters are non-existent bar for NAME JOB BYE. Everything I think about Geralt's personality comes from the games, not from the books.

Plotline? Universe? Derivative and stale. In most of the cases, borderline cringeworthy (particularly in the short stories, where the ..... "inspirations" are particularly clear). Everything he did, someone else did better (and before).

His dialogues are witty, and the gimmick of deconstructing fairytales into bleak and edgy cynicism about sex and murder was well-done. I guess if you aren't an edgelord who prefers more lifelike stories where everybody is a shade of asshole, you ain't getting it.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

As someone who does some lawyering in Potatoland, I must say that from pure legal standpoint his claim has merits. There's specific clause on that in the Polish act on IP. Even if you sold rights to some work, you might demand that your fee be increased if the IP value rises in the future. I actually wonder what took him so long. He complained for years about how he wasn't paid enough.

Exaclty, not only has he strong legal basis for his claim but there also was a huge flop on stock market yesterday:

https://www.money.pl/gospodarka/wia...sapkowski-cd-projekt-pozew,168,0,2417576.html

CDR has already loat moar then 60.000.000 PLN (x10 of that!) thanks to revelaing the claim. Looses has been reduced later later to 'only' 307.000.000 but it stil' x5 of AS's claim value.

Sapkowski has already won.

CDPR could just relocate to a business friendly(read:non-european) country

 

[Preben]

As someone who does some lawyering in Potatoland, I must say that from pure legal standpoint his claim has merits. There's specific clause on that in the Polish act on IP. Even if you sold rights to some work, you might demand that your fee be increased if the IP value rises in the future. I actually wonder what took him so long. He complained for years about how he wasn't paid enough.

Exaclty, not only has he strong legal basis for his claim but there also was a huge flop on stock market yesterday:

https://www.money.pl/gospodarka/wia...sapkowski-cd-projekt-pozew,168,0,2417576.html

CDR has already loat moar then 60.000.000 PLN (x10 of that!) thanks to revelaing the claim. Looses has been reduced later later to 'only' 307.000.000 but it stil' x5 of AS's claim value.

Sapkowski has already won.

CDPR could just relocate to a business friendly(read:non-european) country

GOG is already based in tax haven known as Cyprus.