Sapkowski demands CDPR pay him more

[Black_Willow]

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...

Jacek Dukaj
Robert Wegner
Jarosław Grzędowicz
Maja-Lidia Kossakowska

 

[Grauken]

...and we're not even reaching pleb-tier fantasy like Sanderson. How he managed to be a success is beyond my understanding, I guess.

Lots of high fantasy-only readers have utterly shit taste, would be my guess, although I share your confusion, Sanderson is so aggressively mediocre it makes me wonder if TOR just pushed him at the right time to fill the void left by Robert Jordan

 

[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.

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.

This is not how stocks work. CDPR didn't lose a penny. Companies normally aren't affected by their stock prices.

Falling stock prices affect shareholders and it's their anger that might have repercussions. They might for example try to off the management board which caused the prices to drop. But that entirely depends on internal politics of the company and serious investors rarely panick at some random price change. Suddenly falling stock prices of a normally well-performiny company are actually a tempting occasion to buy shares.

 

[passerby]

At all times there is a small precentage of owners that are already on the verge of selling their shares for whatever unrelated reasons they may have. Any negative news tips the scale for them and 1% down is barely a blip on the radar.
My prediction is, that they'll settle and give him few millions for good publicity, that 10k$ for a Witcher franchise and a court battle with an author would be really controversial otherwise, even if it's not their fault at all.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Jacek Dukaj
Robert Wegner
Jarosław Grzędowicz
Maja-Lidia Kossakowska

If you're naming chicks, I know your list is bogus. I realize it's a matter of tastes and many like to deify Ursula Le Guin, but I honestly haven't read a single good fantasy by a chick. Not a whole lot of male decent fantasy writers either, but at least they exist.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

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.

Jeez, great time to buy then. Thanks.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

I see nothing out of the ordinary. Fake news.

 

[Paul_cz]

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.

No.

Fuck this.

Sapkowski made a bad decision. Too fucking bad. He still immensely profited from CDP's work, both via hugely increased book sales and through netflix deal that never would have happened without the games.

Getting 10K for the rights was perfectly fair and fine, because HE AGREED TO IT. The franchise was not worth anything more than that, because it was HIM that set the price!

And the IP is now super valuable why? Because CDP spent 15 years making games with it! Without their games and their work, the IP would have a tiny fraction of its value. Probably those 10K plus inflation.

Simply put, even if there is some moronic law in Potatoland that allowes for Sapkowski's fuckery, he is still a fucking asshole for doing this. The letter reads like a blackmail extortion shakedown attempt.

And I say that as someone who loves his books. I read the saga in 1999 for the first time. Own the Hussite trilogy, all 8 Witcher books, and few others. I like Sapkowski's general "fuck everyone" attitude and deadpan sarcastic humor. But this case? In this case, he is a an over the top asshole.

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.

I for one appreciate CDP's willingness to not let themselves be blackmailed. The stock price is fluid, it will go up again quickly anyway.

 

[Paul_cz]

Also, I have to highlight the difference between various writers.

On one hand, you have GRRM. When Cyanide were making game about GoT, he fully supported it. He even had a cameo in that game. And that game was critically panned and generally considered poor (eventhough its story was fantastic).

And here you have Sapkowski, whose work was adapted into one of the most acclaimed game series of all time (incl. here on prestigious codex, funnily enough). And he couldn't be a bigger asshole about it if he tried.

 

[Melan]

 

[Mikeal]

Jacek Dukaj
Robert Wegner
Jarosław Grzędowicz
Maja-Lidia Kossakowska

Kick out Kossakowska and we have an agreement.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

People who talk shit about Sapkowski how it's "his fault" have no experience with this, clearly.

I've been offered rev shares in a project that looked bleak to say the least. I debated this with myself for a week, I didn't take the shares. Then a year later, unexpectedly, the project looked much better. Still, I did the right thing, because unless you have gambling problems, you can't get rev shares from a studio in which you exert zero control and whose competence you cannot asses due to simply not being sufficiently informed and qualified. They can ruin the shit out of their project due to inexperience or other problems, and you'll have zero say in it, and your money will be gone. I also asked for everything up-front and a small percentage (the percentage was denied, due to the amount I requested in payment). Looks like he did almost the same.

Now if the project suddenly becomes a multi million franchise, obviously he deserves to be included into the profits. It's morally right, and it's legally right. Doesn't matter what he says about the game. Shit, I remember Leonard Nimoy spent almost his entire life hating on Spock, he even wrote a book that he called "I am not Spock". He avoided Comicon-like events like a plague. So what, he doesn't deserve money for his work or what exactly are you cunts saying? I loved Nimoy despite his views, and if you can't appreciate an artist despite his personal views, you're a dumbshit. (later in life he reverted back, wrote a book "I am Spock". I'm happy he got there, but there's never been any hate in me for his previous remarks).

 

[Master]

Glad that he shits and spits on videogames every chance he gets. "Games" these days are a fucking embarrassment.

 

[Dayyālu]

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.

Uhm. At least it's a point on why you like the man.

Probably the dialogue thing is a translation issue, because the Sapkowski I've read for sure isn't William Goldman. It reads like teen fanfiction, but keeping the wit of an author in translation requires effort and skills.

Regarding "deconstruction", it truly felt to me like utter lack of imagination more than skillful use of tropes. Not the "hah, I recognize what the guy is doing" but more like "uhn, this is cringeworthy in its lack of subletly and creativity". Like the trash American comics&movies that throw out GRITTY REBOOTS OF FAIRY TALES FOR HARDCORE AUDIENCES. Likewise for being "mature", Sapkowski reads like YA literature (and probably is) and I can barely remember any adult detail regarding his stories. Maybe they were so irrelevant to be quickly forgotten.

Lots of high fantasy-only readers have utterly shit taste, would be my guess, although I share your confusion, Sanderson is so aggressively mediocre it makes me wonder if TOR just pushed him at the right time to fill the void left by Robert Jordan

Sanderson is incredibly mediocre as a writer (he is prone to wander meaninglessly in descriptions and 70% , wait 90% of his books require a Deus Ex Machina to work) but at least he's incredibly productive, fan-friendly (and he should be, lacking skills) and has a knack for creating weirdness that he never properly manages to properly use.

He's an excellent author for audiobooks during voyages, tho. You can barely put any focus on what's happening and rarely you'll lose a thing.

 

[Raghar]

I looked at fiscal status, and they paid 100 mln of polish stuff to theirs share holders in 2017 and that was first payment ever. (Thus 3/5 of what went to share owners should theoretically move to the original writer.) Fiscal reserves were increased by 148 mln as well.

Income taxes paid in 2016: 61.4 mln
Income taxes paid in 2017: 47.1 mln

 

[J_C]

People who talk shit about Sapkowski how it's "his fault" have no experience with this, clearly.

I've been offered rev shares in a project that looked bleak to say the least. I debated this with myself for a week, I didn't take the shares. Then a year later, unexpectedly, the project looked much better. Still, I did the right thing, because unless you have gambling problems, you can't get rev shares from a studio in which you exert zero control and whose competence you cannot asses due to simply not being sufficiently informed and qualified. They can ruin the shit out of their project due to inexperience or other problems, and you'll have zero say in it, and your money will be gone. I also asked for everything up-front and a small percentage (the percentage was denied, due to the amount I requested in payment). Looks like he did almost the same.

Now if the project suddenly becomes a multi million franchise, obviously he deserves to be included into the profits. It's morally right, and it's legally right. Doesn't matter what he says about the game. Shit, I remember Leonard Nimoy spent almost his entire life hating on Spock, he even wrote a book that he called "I am not Spock". He avoided Comicon-like events like a plague. So what, he doesn't deserve money for his work or what exactly are you cunts saying? I loved Nimoy despite his views, and if you can't appreciate an artist despite his personal views, you're a dumbshit. (later in life he reverted back, wrote a book "I am Spock". I'm happy he got there, but there's never been any hate in me for his previous remarks).

I'm kinda curious about this law in Poland by the way. It basically makes any contract between the original author and the user of the IP meaningless, because at the end of the day, the author will get royalties nomatter what. Or is it more complicated than that?

Also, I think legally he has a point, and he deserves the money (but not 60 million PLN), but assholes and idiots don't deserve money, so I hope he doesn't get a penny.

 

[Sigourn]

I've been offered rev shares in a project that looked bleak to say the least. I debated this with myself for a week, I didn't take the shares. Then a year later, unexpectedly, the project looked much better. Still, I did the right thing, because unless you have gambling problems, you can't get rev shares from a studio in which you exert zero control and whose competence you cannot asses due to simply not being sufficiently informed and qualified.

Sapkowski did what he thought was, at the time, the right thing. If he had known The Witcher was going to become the millionaire franchise it is today, he would have obviously wanted to take part in the profits. This much is known.

That said, this:

Now if the project suddenly becomes a multi million franchise, obviously he deserves to be included into the profits. It's morally right, and it's legally right.

holds no ground. "Legally", the law, varies from country to country. And it is made by humans. "Morally"... that's another thing. Like I said, I would give the man some money if I was CDPR. But then again, this is the same person who bitches about videogames being a waste of time (such a waste of time in fact that they make their developers disgustingly rich) and that his books popularized the games and not otherwise (popularized them to the point no one gives a damn about the books compared to The Witcher 3).

Nimoy's case is different, because he has obviously signed a contract, and said contract probably didn't oblige him to attend fan events.

IF the Polish law says Sapkowski is entitled to that money, that doesn't make him any less of a cunt. You had your chance and you said "no"; what the law says is retarded.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

People who talk shit about Sapkowski how it's "his fault" have no experience with this, clearly.

I've been offered rev shares in a project that looked bleak to say the least. I debated this with myself for a week, I didn't take the shares. Then a year later, unexpectedly, the project looked much better. Still, I did the right thing, because unless you have gambling problems, you can't get rev shares from a studio in which you exert zero control and whose competence you cannot asses due to simply not being sufficiently informed and qualified. They can ruin the shit out of their project due to inexperience or other problems, and you'll have zero say in it, and your money will be gone. I also asked for everything up-front and a small percentage (the percentage was denied, due to the amount I requested in payment). Looks like he did almost the same.

Now if the project suddenly becomes a multi million franchise, obviously he deserves to be included into the profits. It's morally right, and it's legally right. Doesn't matter what he says about the game. Shit, I remember Leonard Nimoy spent almost his entire life hating on Spock, he even wrote a book that he called "I am not Spock". He avoided Comicon-like events like a plague. So what, he doesn't deserve money for his work or what exactly are you cunts saying? I loved Nimoy despite his views, and if you can't appreciate an artist despite his personal views, you're a dumbshit. (later in life he reverted back, wrote a book "I am Spock". I'm happy he got there, but there's never been any hate in me for his previous remarks).

tl;dr: "I deserve to be compensated for making bad decisions"

 

[oldmanpaco]

Shit, I remember Leonard Nimoy spent almost his entire life hating on Spock, he even wrote a book that he called "I am not Spock". He avoided Comicon-like events like a plague. So what, he doesn't deserve money for his work or what exactly are you cunts saying?

I don't know... Did Nimoy insist on a contract that gave him all his agreed upon compensation up front?

edit: To be fair I hope they come to a resolution. The Witcher games have made millions and 10K is a paltry sum. To bad this asshole spent the last decade burning bridges with the company or he might have already had a deal.

 

[Delterius]

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.

In all seriousness, it makes sense doesn't it? Sapkowski sounds like a major part of the early to mid teen years of all fantasy lovers from Czechia to Russia.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

I'm kinda curious about this law in Poland by the way. It basically makes any contract between the original author and the user of the IP meaningless, because at the end of the day, the author will get royalties nomatter what. Or is it more complicated than that?

Main legal premise is blatant disproportion between author's payment and IP owner's profits. Wheter disproportion is blatant or not is to be judged by civil court.

 

[Hamster]

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.

In all seriousness, it makes sense doesn't it? Sapkowski sounds like a major part of the early to mid teen years of all fantasy lovers from Czechia to Russia.

Yeah, when i was a teen Tolkien, Sapkowsky and Perumov (i don't think he is known outside of Russia, but when it comes to angsty cynical fantasy Sapkowsy is an amateur compared to Perumov ) formed a big three of fantasy authors. I will be hesitant to reread Sapkowski and Perumov as an adult, but reading them as a teen was an unforgetable expirience.

 

[Black_Willow]

Jacek Dukaj
Robert Wegner
Jarosław Grzędowicz
Maja-Lidia Kossakowska

Kick out Kossakowska and we have an agreement.

She wrote an SF satire on EU in the vein of Space Quest, with a chef as the main character, she stays.

 

[Mikeal]

She wrote an SF satire on EU in the vein of Space Quest, with a chef as the main character, she stays.

Title?

 

[Black_Willow]

She wrote an SF satire on EU in the vein of Space Quest, with a chef as the main character, she stays.

Title?

Grillbar Galaktyka